Attack Of The Anglars
by SnowLucario
Summary: Sequel to Wing And A Scare. A human, has fled with his team from Corneria. Now, though, they face the threat of the Anglar forces, and the war is even starting to affect the human world in addition to the furry world. And, tensions between said human and his girlfriend threaten to tear them apart. Can they manage to win this war? Wing And A Scare Book II.
1. Through The Meteor Storm

**'Sup? It's SnowLucario, A.K.A. a 16-year-old loser with autism spectrum disorder who has enough free time to write fanfiction but not date. Go figure.** **Welcome to the sequel to Wing And A Scare!**

 **Decided to jump the gun and put this out early. I couldn't wait, and I'm already on Chapter 6, so why not?**

 **Before you read this, I HIGHLY recommend you read that story first, because I don't want you to spoil yourself, and to understand this story more, you might want to know what happened in the last one. There will obviously be many references to events in WAAS. It will start about two days after the end of that story. I'm hoping that many of those who followed the last story closely will also read this one.**

 **Most of the story will still be in the POVs of Lucas, Willow, Cole, Konstantin, and/or Dr. Howler. I may introduce new characters/scenarios if I get suggestions, but I'll likely be several chapters ahead throughout the story. So be mindful of that.**

 **BirkaranDaBBLover asks: Do you have any brothers or sisters?**

 **SnowLucario answers: I have an elder brother who is on his gap year in Alberta, and a younger sister who is two grades below me. I'm in tenth grade,**

 **In any case, happy reading, and please don't forget to review!**

* * *

Hello. If you have listened to my previous recording, as many hours as it took you to do so, you will already know of the events that have gone on in my life. It's not like I asked for any of them to happen, but I was forced to use the hand I was dealt to make the best of my situation.

Let me start with the basics. My name is Lucas Zantry Enfield, and I am sixteen years old. Until about two months before this story starts, I was a student at Swanville High School, in a small town in central Maine where nothing ever happens. I wanted something to happen that wasn't just dull, not just _boring._ I'd probably end up working some boring office job, taking the same route as my dad.

But, one evening, something very much out of the ordinary happened. As much as I had wanted something weird to happen, it wasn't a good kind of weird.

I was at my school's Holiday Ball with my date, Willow Foster. We had had a wonderful evening, during which we had been crowned king and queen of the ball. However, there were still other surprises to be had that night.

On the way back from the ball, my girlfriend pushed me into the snow. I was wondering what was going on, when I saw her collapse to the ground, unconscious. As it turned out, it was the doing of a tranquilizer dart, because I was soon hit by one and that was the last thing I remember.

When we woke up, we were in an enormous helicopter, in the skies above Corneria. I couldn't believe that I had been thrust into one of the worlds in a video game I enjoyed playing. It seemed unreal, and yet it was very much so.

When we reached the ground, we were taken in different directions and told about our new situation. We were going to be students at the flight academy here, the Grey Clouds Flight Academy, named after Bill Grey and Fox McCloud, two of the founders. Here, we would learn how to help in the war effort.

Eventually, I was told that, due to my height of six feet, two inches, I might pass out when I went in the flight simulator. If that was the case, I would have to undergo a medical procedure called a tilt-table test, during which I would be strapped to a table and tipped back and forth to see if I passed out.

I did pass out, but it was because someone else (we didn't know who at the time) tampered with the flight simulator so that it would be as crazy as possible, literally spinning me into unconsciousness. Luckily, the test came back negative, meaning that I didn't have any heart problems.

I also attended many classes, while eating some of the best food I had ever had. It was one crazy day after another, and I kept having what seemed to be mysterious brushes with death. Really, only one, but there was much speculation that I might be in danger. At one point, a glacier I was on exploded, and I was caught in an avalanche, unconscious for eighteen hours from hypothermia. If not for my buddy Cole, I might still be entombed in an icy crypt.

Eventually, the Anglar forces, an alien race we were fighting against, attacked the Grey Clouds Flight Academy. We were forced to evacuate the school and relocate to a location high up in the mountains. For betraying our location, a new student, Konstantin Brockenbough, was held under suspicion of being suspicious of such. Eventually, he was convicted and sentenced to death.

After several days of plotting, we were able to get Konstantin out of there and into the Great Fox. Dr. Howler, the school's matron, attended to him. He was fine, other than needing to be rehydrated and fed from several days of little to no food or water and absolutely _brutal_ conditions in the holding cell.

In the end, we took to the sky, ending our time on the planet Corneria. And that is also where this story ends and the next one begins. Like the last one, this is also on a recording.

I hope you enjoy it, and please try not to hate me for any dumb decisions I may have made.

* * *

 **LUCAS'S POV**

The Great Fox's intercom crackled, and I braced myself for an announcement. It had to be something important, or else now would not have been the time for it. Was the ship under attack? Were we passing through enemy territory? What was Dr. Howler going to say over the loudspeaker?

Whatever it was, I hoped that it wouldn't result in a very bumpy ride. I wasn't particularly susceptible to motion sickness, but I had just eaten lunch, and I didn't want it to end up bouncing around in my stomach. That would not be pleasant.

"Hello. This is Dr. Howler speaking, here to let you know that we are going to be heading into the asteroid field of Meteo in about five minutes. It's important to be vigilant, but don't worry. It's unlikely that we will face a serious problem. If the field gets too thick to navigate through, we'll let you know".

"Meteo, huh?" Cole asked. "I wonder if we'll be able to grab some meteors to add to our collections back at home".

I could have pointed out any number of things to him. First and foremost, we didn't _have_ homes. Second of all, these meteors were _massive._ A few were the size of my fist, but many of them were the size of houses. If the Great Fox ran into too many, we could clip a wing. And, being that the closest planet with any repair facilities at all was Fichina, it wasn't like we were just going to be able to get it fixed.

It had been two days since Konstantin had woken up in the med bay of the Great Fox. Since then, we had continued traveling through space, aware of the fact that it was a full five days until we would reach Fichina. There was apparently an army base there where we could be put up for a while. There, we could help with the war effort, which was important for two reasons.

One, because we just wanted to help the Lylat System win the war against the Anglars. The other motivation was a little more selfish. There was a hope that, if we did enough to help the Cornerians in their war efforts, we would be able to get Konstantin pardoned. After all, he'd done nothing wrong, other than flipping off the Cornerian flag and singing a song he had, at the time, thought was patriotic towards the United States. He'd gotten a detention for that, but it would end up serving as circumstantial evidence in his trial.

Dr. Howler, now that Konstantin was no longer in the med bay, had gone into the business of navigating. Since she had a sharp mind for this, she would remain there until one of us needed to be patched up again. Then, she would go back to bandages and needles. Now, she was working with buttons and levers. One of her famous catchphrases, used after the first time I'd passed out, was "I hope I won't see you again", or something to that effect.

If she had seen reason to be worried about us entering the asteroid belt, that was obviously a cause for concern. However, I just had to trust that they would be able to handle it.

With that, I decided to look for the others.

* * *

The other students were all in the rec room, and I was able to take stock once again of who was present.

Mike Kirk was a shy boy from New York City. He seemed like a stereotypical nerd, but there was no denying that he had played a role, however small, in rescuing Konstantin. There had been a time when we had suspected him of tampering with the flight simulators, but we had begun trusting him again at some point. I'm not entirely sure where the tipping point was, but I was glad to have him on board. The more numbers we had, the better.

Will Wexford was an African-American boy from Louisiana. He was not a very good swimmer, but I still didn't know very much about him, other than the fact that he had good martial arts skills. Maybe he was from an area with a very high crime rate, which was why he had had to learn to defend himself. Besides that, he was pretty friendly.

Cole McCallen was probably the one I was closest to here, simply because he had been close to me for quite a while. He'd dug me out of the glacial ice three weeks ago. Beyond that, though, he was a good guy. He had been a juvenile delinquent back in Detroit, where he'd grown up, but he had definitely changed into a loyal friend since I had met him. I could only hope that he would stay loyal to us, but there was no reason to suppose that he wouldn't. After all, he had done his part in the rescue mission, and his story, despite one thinking it should have made me suspicious of him, made me trust him even more for being so _open_ about it.

Ian was also present. Previously known as Seventy-Four, we hadn't learned much about him, including what he really looked like, due to the fact that he wore a gas mask all the time. Since the rescue mission, he had dispensed with it. I still wanted to ask him if he was autistic, because his voice was what made me wonder. I myself have Asperger's syndrome, so I would be one to notice this. Thus far, I didn't know too much else about him.

And, finally, Konstantin Brockenbough. I had so many jumbled thoughts about him that it's difficult to put into words.

Since we had rescued him from that mountain cell, he had begun to regain his strength. His ankles and wrists were still bandaged, as was his arm, where an IV had been inserted. He still wasn't fully recovered physically, and it would probably take even longer for him to get a hundred percent _mentally._ His DON'T MESS WITH TEXAS T-shirt was a little looser than usual, and he was wearing a new pair of glasses, his old ones having been confiscated by the guards.

The only absent student was Willow Foster, who had lived in Maine with me, and was even dating me. She was the one who had been with me from the very beginning of this mess, before we had been sent into this alternate dimension through no decision of our own.

Right now, Willow was helping the doctor and the pilot navigate. Who knew where Mrs. Hooter, the archery teacher, was right now?

That was my team. I could only hope that things would go well for us from here on out, because there was no guarantee about that.

* * *

"Hey, Lucas" Cole said. "We were just talking about Fichina. What do you think it's like?"

"I've heard it's pretty cold" I said. "We'll probably need to get some very warm jackets, and I don't know if there are any of them in the Great Fox. I sure as hell _hope_ so, though".

"I'm from the bayou, guys" Will said in his strongest possible Southern accent. "I'm not used to cold temperatures, and I'm glad I didn't go on that mission to defuse the bomb".

We all laughed at his accent, including Will himself. Our friendship had progressed to that point in the last two months, so he didn't get mad about this. I was grateful for that, because the closer we were to each other, the better we would make this whole situation for all of us. After all, who knew how long we would be stuck together?

"But, seriously, guys, it's going to be freezing there" I said. "I sure hope that the base is warm, or else we're going to be in trouble".

"I know" Konstantin said. "But if we don't like the temperature there, it doesn't matter. It's the only safe place for me".

Since Konstantin was technically an escaped prisoner, he couldn't go back to Corneria. If he did, it would be a one-way ticket to the stage in front of a firing squad.

The closest army base was Fichina. There, we hoped, he would be okay, and they wouldn't betray him to the Cornerian army.

"I think that we can get through this, though" Mike said. "Personally, I am optimistic that we can find a home there, at least for a while".

"I'm not" Konstantin said. "The Fichinans are probably no better than the Cornerians. If they weren't our only chance at safety, I'd just kill them all".

None of us were surprised by this. Aside from everything else, Konstantin had a hair-trigger temper when it came to anything related to Corneria. He hated the people who had stolen his college life back in Texas away from him. Even if it was ultimately for the best, which I was still not entirely convinced of, I could agree with him that this was unjust. He should have at least been able to know what he was signing up for.

Right now, though, we were in space, desperately hoping that we would be able to find a secure place to stay at the Fichina army base. You would think that things couldn't get much worse at the moment, right?

Wrong.

Thirty seconds after Konstantin had said his statement about wanting to kill the Fichinans, the ship's alarm bells rang.

* * *

 **WILLOW'S POV**

I was spending my afternoon of February 4, 201Y in the control room of the Great Fox. I had volunteered to help Falco and Dr. Howler navigate through the asteroid belt, which was going to be difficult and dangerous for sure.

Mrs. Hooter was not with us. She was probably doing target practice, since the owl always seemed to have a bow and arrow pointing at something or someone.

"I'm going to ring the alarm bells" Dr. Howler said. "There are too many meteors, and we'll need everyone to help navigate. It might create some confusion, but they all need to be on guard".

"What could happen if we hit one?" I asked the Bengal tiger. Yes, our ship's doctor was a Bengal tiger. Don't judge.

"We'd probably take a significant amount of damage to whatever part of the ship got hit. If we clip a wing, though, we're screwed. That _almost_ happened one time in Sector Z, back during the First Lylat War" Falco said.

"What happened?" I asked. I hadn't played all the video games Lucas had, so I would not have been aware of this.

"Six Copperhead missiles came right for the Great Fox, and we had to go out and shoot down all of them. Hopefully, that doesn't happen this time. However, there _are_ a lot of meteors here".

I looked out and, sure enough, the sky was s _warming_ with huge rocks. In space, it was difficult to gauge distances, but I could tell that it would be a tight fit for many of them.

"I'm about to ring them! Cover your ears!" Dr. Howler shouted before pressing a bright yellow button.

I wasn't prepared.

* * *

Imagine the loudest smoke alarm you've ever heard. Now, imagine that sound magnified ten times and played to sound more like a siren. Imagine that there's actual _weight_ to the sound, enough to knock you off your feet.

Okay. You've got a pretty good idea of what the Great Fox's alarm bells sound like.

Indeed, I was knocked off my feet onto the ground. Dr. Howler, being the protective mother hen that she often was, ran to make sure I was okay. Even _she_ had had to hold onto the console as my eardrums exploded, or at least I thought they would.

"Go get the others, Falco" Dr. Howler said. "They'll need to be briefed on what is going on right now, so that they can help us. Will you do that?"

"Right on!" Falco said.

He left the room, very efficient this time. Yesterday, Lucas had told me that when the Anglar race was attacking the school, Falco was in his room listening to the song "I'm Too Sexy" by Right Said Fred. That had made me laugh like crazy. Even now, I could still put myself in that position, where I could just make my emotions that I was feeling absolute hilarity.

"How dangerous is the asteroid belt?" I asked Dr. Howler.

"It's very risky, because the Great Fox is pretty big, and there can be as little as twenty feet between all these meteors. While our cannons are somewhat effective, we'll need someone to go out in one of the Arwings in order to get rid of some of the smaller ones. This will help us with our safe passage through".

"Still three days to Fichina?"

"I think that's the course we're taking, yes. At this rate, three days sounds about right. Let's just hope that Meteo doesn't kill us".

Right after that, Falco came in, with Cole, Will, Mike, Lucas, Ian, and Konstantin behind him. The oldest boy there was still walking with a bit of a limp, which wasn't surprising. Konstantin had just been through the worst of the worst; being on death row in an underground prison, chained to the walls with little food and no water. How he was still alive was beyond me.

"What's going on right now?" Will asked.

"We're heading through the asteroid belt" Dr. Howler told him. "We need everyone to help navigating through the worst of it. Once we're clear of all the asteroids, it's three more days to the base at Fichina".

I sighed in frustration. It should have been easy to get to Fichina. It would be a straight five-day shot for the ice planet under most circumstances. But the asteroid belt still stood in our way, and there was no way of knowing what enemies might be lying in wait for us.

"I'll do it" Falco said. "You want me to go out and clear a path through the meteors? Because I can do that, you know. I'm a pilot, you know what I mean?"

"Yeah, Falco!" Lucas cheered.

"Let's put it to a vote" Dr. Howler said. "All in favor of Falco going out in the Arwing, raise your hands!"

Six of the seven of us did. The only abstention was Ian. I didn't ask him why he wasn't in favor of it, but it didn't matter.

"Okay, guys!" Falco said. "I'm going to get us through this!"

* * *

 **FALCO'S POV**

The Great Fox had four decks.

The top deck held the control room, the dining room, med bay, and the common room that was right next to med bay. The next deck held the cabins that those who weren't spending the night in med bay slept. The third deck held the rec room and the gym. And the bottom deck was for the hangar and the long hallway leading towards it.

I could have taken the elevator, but all of the decks were connected by staircases. It might be kind of a maze to make your way around, but it was still possible if you knew the place. And the fact was, I did. I knew the Great Fox like I knew the back of my own hand. Or, rather, _wing._

Once I got down to the bottom level, I ran down the hallway. I knew that the Great Fox would stay still as long as it needed to in order for me to help them through, but this would take a lot of cooperation between myself and Dr. Howler.

 _Dr. Howler..._ over the last two days, I'd taught her how to pilot the ship, once Konstantin had been released from med bay and things had gone back to normal. Of course, going on mercenary missions like this was just normal for me. I did it all the time, because it kept food on the table, and we hadn't gotten too much from the war. When all was said and done, in fact, only a sum of $65,536, which was only enough for me for a year, given the fact that I lived in a large apartment in Corneria.

After that, things had gone relatively back to normal once again for me. But right now, we were harboring an escaped prisoner, and I had no doubt that if we were caught the consequences would be disastrous. Right now, though, the chief problem facing us was definitely the asteroid belt, Meteo.

Finally, I reached the hangar bay of the Great Fox. We had four Arwings completely ready to be flown in.

That first mission to defeat Andross, it had been myself, Fox McCloud, Peppy Hare, and Slippy Toad. We'd all worked together, and then gone our separate ways. All of us but Peppy had ended up teaching at the Grey Clouds Flight Academy, except Fox would once again end up doing his own thing.

Fox McCloud had come back to Corneria for a mission that the students were undertaking; to defuse a bomb planted hundreds of feet beneath a glacier. He'd ended up paying the price, with only Lucas Enfield coming out worse off than him. But Lucas was with us now, so it was all okay.

Well, not _really._ We still had to deal with the meteor storm.

* * *

An Arwing is a personal spacecraft known for its extremely advanced technology. With its G-diffuser system, it can suspend itself in midair against the pull of gravity. It's also equipped with lasers, smart bombs, and the ability to perform barrel rolls. (Yes, I know that it's technically an **aileron roll,** but still).

I strapped myself into the cockpit and turned on the communication system.

"Yeah, Dr. Howler. I'm out right now, and I'll help shoot down the meteors now. I'll show you which ones I'm going to!"

"Good, Falco. Make sure to detonate smart bombs galore. I know you only have...what, nine, so use them wisely!"

I almost laughed at that. That was something that Peppy would have said.

In any case, I got in front of the Great Fox's control room window and looked around for any meteorites that I would need to blow up to clear the path. I knew that it was to my advantage to use the bombs, because it would create a large three-dimensional starburst of white light, giving a hint as to where I was. In the darkness of space, it's easy to miss a small target.

I did a barrel roll before seeing a swarm of meteorites, at which I detonated a smart bomb. The light gave Dr. Howler an indication as to where I was, and what path she should take.

"Shoot down those enemies!" the Bengal tiger shouted.

I hadn't noticed them, but there were several combat droids hanging onto a ledge, which were shooting lasers at me. I charged my lasers to lock onto them, and then I got them all down in one shot.

"You're good at this, Falco!" Dr. Howler said.

 _Thanks for the compliment,_ I thought, but I couldn't afford to let myself get distracted. This was dangerous stuff here.

I exploded another meteor, and then another, while continuing to give Dr. Howler instructions on how to get through the asteroid belt. Weaving through the enemies and shooting them down, it was quieter than I would have expected.

The whole time, I managed to get the Great Fox through all right. We didn't clip any wings along the way, nor did we run into any other problems.

"What's going on right now?" I asked through the communication system.

Dr. Howler said, "It's going on fine. We're glad that you're helping us through this region. I hope that we're getting close to the end".

"Me too" I said.

As it turned out, we were _not_ close to the end at all.

Continuing through empty space, I came across many more meteors. Blasting through all of them, I could occasionally catch a glimpse of what was _true_ empty space. However, it was soon obstructed by views of more meteors, and it started to make me feel almost as though I was never going to get us through all of this.

Still, though, there was something that had kept me going. During our first attempt at defeating Andross, the one that had ended with a battle against a robot, we had gone through Meteo. We'd all managed to scrape through with our Arwings intact. All I had to do was survive this alone.

* * *

It took several hours to navigate through the asteroid belt. I fought more enemies, but for the most part there were not nearly as many of them as there were during the First Lylat War.

"Are we just about through?" I asked. I was starting to get a bit tired. Sweat was beginning to form, because piloting an Arwing was actually fairly tiring. You had to shift your weight a lot, so you _would_ perspire eventually. It was just a matter of time, really.

"I think so. Just one more swarm of meteors to get through. You think you can do it?"

"Yeah".

I shot my last smart bomb into the storm right there, and they all dissipated.

"Great! Now you can come back in. I think that's it!"

I sure as hell hoped that she was correct about that. Because, if not, we might be in big trouble.

* * *

 **LUCAS'S POV**

Falco eventually came back into the control room, drenched in sweat from the task of getting all of the meteors out of the way. He looked tired but relieved, and I could only hope that he and Dr. Howler were right.

"So we're all clear of the asteroid field?" I asked.

"Yep!" Falco said. "It's just three more days to Fichina, and then we'll see what happens next".

I didn't like the sound of those last few words. It shouldn't have bothered me too much, considering that I'd lived with uncertainty for the better part of two months now, and so far I had managed to stay alive. We'd even rescued Konstantin, a death row prisoner.

Now, though, I felt like we were all alone in this galaxy. In an _alternate dimension._

"We really did come close to getting hit" Falco said. "I used up all of our smart bombs".

"That's okay" Dr. Howler said. "We can get more in Fichina".

I sighed. So much seemed to hinge on us getting to Fichina safely. What was going to go on once we were there, though, was anyone's guess.

Still, though, there was no denying one thing...

I was on the adventure of a lifetime.

* * *

 **And there is the first chapter of American Mercenaries! I hope you enjoyed it, and please don't forget to review! It means the world to me, it really does.**

 **The upload schedule for this will be every five days. Like I said at the top, I am most likely going to be far ahead of what you are reading. The next chapter will thus be posted on January 31, the third on February 5, and so on. Depending on how many chapters there end up being, I might end up posting the last one on my 17th birthday, which would be awesome.**

 **This is the longest chapter to be the first chapter of any of my stories. It clocks in at a little bit over five thousand words. With a 5K opening chapter, I'm aiming for at least that much for the average chapter in the story. I feel like defying the stereotype of writers who do very short chapters.**

 **I'm glad that I have written the first chapter. Talkingbirdguy once told me that the last chapter is the second hardest, with the first being the hardest. I'm hoping that his sage advice turns out to be, well, sage.**

 **And yes, this is going to be a trilogy. At the point of writing this author's note, I am quite far along (on Chapter 6, in fact, like I said), and will likely be even farther ahead on the third story.**

 **I highly appreciate reviews, because they help me know what I am doing right and what I am doing wrong.**

 **SnowLucario out.**


	2. Willow Talent

**Here is the second chapter!**

 **Zaravan asks: How are you able to write so much in so little time? Have you been blessed by the patron saint of the arts?**

 **SnowLucario answers: There is a possibility that is true. However, it might have something to do with autism spectrum disorder and having a lot of free time.**

 **This is the shortest chapter yet, and I'm on Chapter 8. It's still the shortest chapter then. And it's still over 4,000 words, so I'm dedicated to long chapters now.**

 **Disclaimer: I do not own Star Fox, nor do I claim to. Just the characters introduced in this story.**

 **Just decided to add that for fun, like I see so many others doing.**

* * *

 **KONSTANTIN'S POV**

It had been three days since I had been rescued from the cell inside the mountain on Corneria. Since then, I had been on a roller coaster of emotions.

On one hand, I was very happy to be free. I now had more life ahead of me, more to look forward to than just getting executed by firing squad. I was on the Great Fox, where I had access to plenty of food and water, unlike the conditions in that prison. We'd gotten through the asteroid belt yesterday, and we were just two days from touching down on our destination planet, Fichina.

On the surface, it would seem as though I was on a roller coaster that only went up. On the inside, though, I was not on cloud nine by any means.

Every night, I had been having nightmares. Whether it be about getting captured and sent into this alternate dimension, getting imprisoned in that dark, dank underground cell, or the alien attack on the school that I was being blamed for. There seemed to be no end to them.

I hadn't told Dr. Howler about this. I hadn't seen too much of her other than my first night here, which I had spent in med bay. I didn't know what she was going to do, but I wasn't just going to trust a _Cornerian_ with my secrets. Not even if that Cornerian had saved me from certain death.

I got into my bed early. Dr. Howler had insisted that I not stay up too late or push myself in the exercise room, since I was still recovering. I got underneath the covers and closed my eyes, hoping that the onslaught of nightmares would not start up this time.

* * *

Of course, I could never be so lucky.

No sooner had I managed to drift off than I found myself in the middle of bumper-to-bumper traffic on a Bastrop County road just outside of Austin. I knew which of my nightmares this was.

I'd been planning to go to the University Of Texas in Austin before all of this had happened. In fact, I'd been driving from Houston to Austin when this happened. The traffic simply _stopped,_ and I was left with no option but to get out of my vehicle and see if there was any way at all I could direct traffic or do something like that.

I walked down the hill, hoping that I could get through, when I saw a large tank in front of me with the crimson red flying fox symbol. As soon as I got there, however, I felt something lodge itself in my leg, and I blacked out. It would later turn out that this was a tranquilizer arrow, but I didn't know that at the time.

The scene changed.

Now, I was lying in bed in my dormitory at the Grey Clouds Flight Academy. I had shared this room with all of the other students currently on the Great Fox other than Willow, who had slept with five other girls.

I'd been woken up by the alarm, which had been triggered by Anglar forces having reached our school. They were getting through the windows, and it was difficult for us to escape. I tried to keep myself looking just as surprised as the others were at the attack, but it would obviously not end up working. I'd get blamed for it anyway.

We'd gone down to the hangar, where Lucas had gone back for Falco. Later, I'd seen Falco carrying Lucas's unconscious form into the Great Fox. I'd later find out that he had been bitten by one of the Anglars, but he was fine now, which was a good thing.

The scene changed again.

I was now being shackled and taken into the underground cell that I was held in under suspicion of betraying our location to the Anglars. Like I said, there was nothing but circumstantial evidence for this, but that was apparently enough for those assholes. I was told that, a few days from now, I would stand trial.

The scene changed yet again, and now I was sitting in front of a jury. There were seven straight witnesses who didn't say anything to imply that I was guilty. However, all it took was for _one_ witness, Wolf, to shift things enough so that I was convicted by a vote of seven to five. No filibuster, no nothing. I was just dragged in there, and then I was taken back to my cell.

There, I was very brutally treated. Very little food, no water at all, and still shackled, with occasional beatings. Was this _really_ necessary, given that I was about to be executed? The chains chafed against my wrists and ankles, so they became painful fast, rather than simply tight. I really did wish this on the people who had imprisoned me, so they could know just what they had inflicted on Konstantin Brockenbough.

The scene changed for the final time, and I found myself waking up in med bay with Dr. Howler next to me. This scene only lasted for a few seconds, though, or at least what _felt_ like a few seconds. It's worth noting that, unlike most of the times that I dream, I was fully aware that I was just dreaming. However, this didn't make it much less scary.

* * *

I woke up in my bed on the Great Fox, sitting up like I had just been jump-scared. No, I was still here, and had not been kidnapped or anything.

Checking the digital clock on the wall, I saw that it was 5:49 AM. Dr. Howler had told me that I should get plenty of rest, because I was still not fully recovered from my time in the mountain prison. However, I knew that I would never be able to get back to sleep tonight, and I was too restless to stay in bed until seven. After all, we were only one day away from Fichina, and I knew that once we were there things would be different. We might find a place where we would be safe.

I elected to get out of bed. After brushing my teeth, I decided to go to the rec room to pass the time until breakfast. After all, I had nothing better to do until 8:00, which was when we would all meet.

When I got to the rec room, I got quite a surprise. I hadn't noticed it, but Lucas's bunk in the bedroom of the Great Fox had been empty. The reason for this was, of course, because he was in the rec room right now.

"Good morning, Konstantin" he said. "How's it going?"

I debated in my mind whether or not to tell him the truth, before deciding in favor of it. "Had a nightmare" I said.

"Sorry about that" Lucas said. "About what, if you don't mind me asking?"

"Just...stuff" I said. "You don't really need to know" I added.

"Oh" Lucas responded. "Well...maybe playing some video games will help. Do you want to play some _Brawl_?"

I smiled. "Thought you'd never ask. I'm sure I could beat you at that".

Lucas found the case for the game and put the disc, resembling a Smash Ball, into the Wii.

"Who's your main?" he asked me.

"I like to play as King Dedede" I said, hoping that Lucas wouldn't find it ironic that a fat guy liked to play as a fat character in a video game. Granted, I had lost probably ten pounds, maybe fifteen, in that cell, but I had already gained back several. Soon, I would go back to being a slightly overweight person.

"Contrary to what many people assume, _no,_ I do not play as Lucas" the boy with the same first name said.

"Who do you play as, then?" I asked, genuinely curious.

"My main's Fox" Lucas said.

* * *

We booted up the game, and we each made our character choices. I selected King Dedede, and did not change his costume. Lucas, on the other hand, selected Fox's green palette swap.

"I hope none of you are playing as me!" a voice from outside the room said.

We turned around, just as we were at the stage selection screen, to find Falco Lombardi looking at us.

"It's fine that you're playing Wii this early, but try not to wake the others. Turn the volume down to 12 or lower. And _please_ don't disgrace yourself by sucking as me. Later, I'll show you my moves in real life".

I laughed. I had been so distracted by how much things in this alternate dimension had sucked that I hadn't given much thought to the hilarious implications of video game characters being real.

"In any case, get to your game. I'm sure that you will have a good time".

We heeded his advice.

* * *

It soon became clear who was the better player, or at least who was playing as the better _character._ I knew that King Dedede was higher on the tier list than Fox, twelfth place as opposed to fifteenth place, but that didn't mean that he was easier to play with. His hammer attack is very slow, and that made it easy for Lucas to utilize Fox's blaster. I had also underestimated his prowess at the smash attack.

"Dude, I'm glad we're playing on Final Destination. I could just play no items, Final Destination".

"Not Fox only?" Lucas asked, winking.

"This isn't _Melee"_ I said. "Fox isn't number one on this tier list".

"Whatever" he said. "I'm just having a good time gaming with you right now".

I looked back at him. "Me too".

* * *

 **WILLOW'S POV**

We all ate breakfast together, and then we all went our separate ways. I was told that we would reach the ice planet of Fichina tomorrow, so we would be saying good-bye to this ship, at least for a while.

I really did like the Great Fox. While the Grey Clouds Flight Academy had had very comfortable dormitories, the second location had only had sleeping bags arranged all over the floor. All in all, I was glad to be on the ship.

With nothing better to do, I decided to head towards the workout room. Maybe I would find something to do there. I might try the weights, or something like that.

Imagine my surprise when I found that I was not the only one there. Indeed, it was not someone who was superficial to my life. I hadn't gotten too acquainted with Mike, Ian, or Will, but there was one person who tugged on my heartstrings like no other.

Lucas Enfield was on the treadmill when I arrived there. He was going at 5.7 MPH (for those of you who don't know, the _treadmill_ was moving at that speed, meaning that Lucas would have to move at least that fast to avoid falling off. Luckily, a clip attached to his shirt would cause the device to stop if that happened). He looked like he was really working up a sweat there.

"Lucas! How could you work out a time like this?" I asked. I wasn't mad at him, just wondering.

"You lose bone mass in space!" he yelled over the sound of the treadmill. "I gotta keep in shape somehow!"

"But the Great Fox has plenty of gravity!" I said. "Can't you just dance with me or something?"

He looked like he was about to protest, but I went over to the treadmill.

"Lucas, press the red button". That was the button that stopped the conveyor belt.

"No, I've got to get in my workout-".

"It can wait" I said, pressing the button.

The treadmill stopped, and Lucas looked at me, looking a little peeved.

"Do you _really_ want me to dance with you?" he asked me. "I'm sweating like a beast right now, and I'm also pretty tired".

"Yeah" I said. "Do you remember that night at the holiday ball?"

He snorted. "You mean, the night we both got shot with tranquilizer darts and sent to the academy? Yeah, I remember that".

"Well, can't we just do something like that? We haven't had a date in, like, _forever._ We'll be arriving on Fichina tomorrow, and then who _knows_ when we'll be able to do it again?"

Lucas seemed to relent. "Fine" he said.

* * *

In the Great Fox, there was also a dance floor. It wasn't used very often, because right now there was really nothing to be celebrated. Of course, there was the fact that Konstantin had been saved, but that was old news now. He'd been with us for a good four days.

"What song do you want?" Lucas asked, assuming that I had to be the one to choose.

Luckily, I had one in mind.

"I want you to play 'Surrender' by Billy Talent. Can you do that?"

"Sure thing".

He grabbed a remote and turned on the TV. Selecting the YouTube option, he typed in, "surrender billy talent". Clicking on the official music video, he grabbed my arm.

"Are you ready?" he asked.

"I am ready".

* * *

The song "Surrender" is a very sad song. Unlike some other sad songs, though, it's very up-front about being a sad song.

The song is essentially about unrequited love. Ben, the lead singer, is basically singing about being friends with a girl whom he has developed feelings for. However, he doesn't want to hell her that for fear of losing the friendship. To be honest, I don't know _what_ I was thinking when I selected this song to play while we danced. I guess I just wanted to show that I would reciprocate for Lucas.

These lines are basically asking the girl to give up everything for him, just like he would do for her. It's really quite depressing when you think about it. My mother always told me that unrequited love wasn't romantic, it's just a waste of time. That might be true, but you'd be smart not to take the words of a parent who sold you to a military academy in an alternate dimension too seriously.

I wanted to make clear to Lucas that he wouldn't meet a similar fate to the singer of the song. I grasped his arms and spun him around as we covered more of the floor. At this point, we were doing just as well as we had nearly two months ago. If there had been a dancing queen and king for the Great Fox, we would definitely be earning it right now.

The next lines talk about how Ben thinks that, among all of the bad girls, he has found one that it's worth it to be with. Looking at Lucas right now, I was sure that I had found a flower in the field of weeds that was jerk boys, but I hoped that this flower _did_ belong to me.

Just as the last lines of the song were finishing, ending in that haunting way, I heard the door open. I tried to close it, hoping that they had not seen when we were dancing.

However, when Cole McCallen is outside the door, there is just no way to hide from his prying eye.

I could tell that he was wondering what was going on. I could practically _see_ the gears turning inside his head, figuring it out.

"Were you guys just dancing to 'Surrender'?" he asked.

There was no reason to deny it. "Yes" Lucas said.

"You realize that song is about unrequited love, right?" Cole said.

"I do" I said. "And there's **nothing** wrong with us listening to it".

"No, there isn't. I just thought that...well".

"You're saying that just because we're dating, we can't listen to a song about unrequited love like that?"

"I'm not! I was just wondering why you wanted to!"

"Because she likes that song. Isn't that enough, Cole?" Lucas asked him.

"Yeah, it is" Cole said, before leaving the room.

I walked with Lucas over to the couch in the next room. "Sit down before you fall down. You've been working out for a while, right?"

"Yeah. I was on the treadmill for twenty minutes before you came".

"Oh. Well...is it okay if I go do something else now?" I asked him.

He looked at me. "Of course" he said.

As I left the room, I knew one thing: our love was _not_ unrequited.

* * *

 **LUCAS'S POV**

The next day, the fifth since rescuing Konstantin, we were traveling right on schedule as the ice planet of Fichina came into view. It was quite a beautiful white color with a little bit of blue added in. I wasn't sure if the planet had any oceans, since in the game you're limited to a pretty small area.

Konstantin had taken a walk around the ship and ended up in the control room. There, he said, Falco and Dr. Howler had told him that I was wanted up there. Supposedly, they needed my help. For what, I didn't know. Probably to help land the ship.

"Did they say why they wanted me?" I asked him.

"No. But they won't take no for an answer. Supposedly, you are absolutely necessary".

"Well, I do like feeling needed" I said, leaving to head to the control room.

* * *

Falco and Dr. Howler were waiting there, looking like they were getting ready to ask me to help. Which was kind of just what I was expecting.

"Will you help us prepare the landing gear?" Falco asked me.

"Sure. Just show me what to do and I'll help".

Truth be told, the last five days had been pretty boring. Once Konstantin was allowed outside of med bay, we had had one more person to hang out with, but there still wasn't that much to do. Soon, we'd be on Fichina, and then we'd get to quite possibly take part in missions again as a team.

"Okay" Dr. Howler said. "Once we're over the landing zone on Fichina, I want you to press the purple button when either Falco or myself tells you to. Will you do that?"

"Yeah. Just say the word".

* * *

I didn't really have to do too much until fifteen minutes later, when we finally broke through the planet's atmosphere. Then, we started going down at what felt like a faster pace.

"It's just because of the gravity of the planet" Falco said. "Still, though, we've got to be careful for sure. It's not like I'm not used to this".

Falco had been piloting the Great Fox for years, so I had no doubt that he was confident in his abilities. The only question was whether or not _I_ would be able to help him enough.

I saw an airstrip about half a mile below us and maybe two or three miles ahead of us. "Okay...hold steady, Falco! Just keep the ship level".

"I think he means in terms of left and right, because we do need to go slightly downwards at an angle of fifteen degrees. Haven't you skied before, Lucas?"

"Yeah, I have".

"Then you should know that you need to be heading downwards at a specific angle in order to end up level on the ground. If you're ever going to pilot your own Arwing, you're going to need to know that".

 _Pretty big oversight on my part._

"Then go left...no, go right...but keep going downward".

"I've got it" Falco said. "I can control this thing pretty well".

"It's time to press the button, Lucas" Dr. Howler said.

I searched among the control panel. Eventually, I found a small, circular purple button. I used my right pointer finger to press it, and I heard the sound of landing gear coming down.

And, almost immediately, I felt a blast of cold air.

"You might want to grab some furs for everybody" Dr. Howler said. "The planet of Fichina is quite cold".

 _Duh,_ I thought.

I remembered the last time I was in such cold weather. I'd gotten caught in an avalanche and nearly died.

"Let's get down there" I said.

* * *

Eventually, the others had all put on warm jackets. Despite this, they were still shivering, and so was I. We were all ready to leave the ship.

As soon as we had gotten off of the Great Fox, a man came up to us. With his appearance of being a Bengal tiger, he looked like he could be Dr. Howler's father.

Clearly, he looked much older than our physician. His orange fur was turning less bright, and he seemed to be hunched over a little bit.

"I have...Lucas Enfield, Cole McCallen, Willow Foster, Howler, Falco Lombardi, Michael Kirk, Hooter, William Wexford, and Konstantin Brockenbough. Will each of you raise your hands as I call your names again?"

The nine of us did. Even Mrs. Hooter, who had come back from the archery range for only the second or third time in five days.

"We've been expecting you".


	3. Ice Ice Baby

**Happy Super Bowl Sunday! I don't care about pro sports, but I'm rooting for the Patriots for obvious reasons. Also, happy birthday to Talkingbirdguy, my inspiration for writing!**

 **Singlewave asks: What is the scariest experience you have ever had?**

 **SnowLucario asks: Inner tubing in Maine is up there. Other than that, I don't know what I would say. Some things involving heights, like climbing 47 feet up a pine tree to do a zip line.**

 **This is my longest chapter yet. Hope you enjoy.**

 **Also, for the name of the minor character you are about to meet, I simply used a random name generator. Eventually, however, I got to a point where I had to give Dr. Howler a first name.**

 **I know that it might feel like too much happens for the amount of words, even though this is the longest chapter so far, but trust me that I felt like this was a good amount of events. If you disagree, feel free to tell me in a review or PM.**

 **One last thing: Zaravan! You're awesome! For those of you who don't know, he submitted Konstantin for this story. He wrote a one-shot about Konstantin's time in the prison cell. It's called "Spite" and it's on his profile. It's also in my favorite stories list, at the very top (I believe it's sorted by latest update). PLEASE check it out, it's great!**

 **Disclaimer: My family is pretty well off, but one thing: We didn't make our fortune through Star Fox.**

* * *

 **LUCAS'S POV**

We didn't know what to make of this man, if you could even call him a man. Like I said, he appeared to be a Bengal tiger like Dr. Howler. As to who he was...well, we would only have to wait for him to say it.

"We've been expecting you" the elderly tiger said. The way he said it, I thought that he was angry at us or something. Well, it wasn't _our_ fault that the Anglars attacked the school! This man should not have been angry at us, and yet he seemed to be.

"I'm not mad at you, you know" he said. "Sorry if I sounded that way. It's just...the fact that you're here is not good news".

"Why not?" Konstantin asked.

The older tiger chuckled. "You, young man, of all people, should be able to figure it out. Supposedly, we're all allies in the war against the Anglars. And yet...you're Konstantin Brockenbough, aren't you?"

"The one and only" he said.

"The Cornerians are still out for your blood" the old tiger said. "As long as you don't get pardoned, you're not safe here, or anywhere else for that matter. We'll still take you in, though".

"What can we do to get Konstantin pardoned?" Will asked. Being from Louisiana, he was clearly struggling in this cold weather. _Just try being trapped underneath hundreds of feet of snow and ice for fifteen hours!_ I thought.

"Have him help in the war effort as much as possible" he said. "By the way, I didn't introduce myself. I'm the head of the Fichinan military, have been for twenty years. My name is Bernat Homeros. I know, a weird name for a Bengal tiger".

Homeros then looked at Dr. Howler. "In case you're wondering, _no,_ she is not my daughter. I've never been married, never had kids. Who are you, by the way?"

"I'm Tigre Howler, and I'm a physician at the Grey Clouds Flight Academy. Or, at least, what _was_ the Grey Clouds Flight Academy. We had to evacuate to a different location because of those Anglars".

"I was going to ask you something else", Homeros said, "but at this point I think we should just get out of the cold. It's forecast to be five degrees above zero this afternoon, and this is our _warm_ season. It's the opposite as Corneria. Come in! We have a lot to talk about".

* * *

Homeros seemed to be very conversational for a man as old as he was. He started by asking Dr. Howler what type of medicine she practiced. "Are you a gastroenterologist? An oncologist? An obstetritian?"

The doctor didn't seem to be offended. "I'm a general practitioner. I can pretty much do anything you need me to do, medically speaking".

The older Bengal tiger led us through a door at the end of the hangar, which led downstairs. "It gets a lot warmer the further down you get in the base. In the sleeping areas, it's maybe forty-five degrees Fahrenheit most of the time...which is quite warm compared to what it's like outside!"

"You _do_ have warm blankets, right?" Dr. Howler asked him. "The health and safety of my students is paramount to me".

"Yeah" Homeros said. "I'm going to give you a tour of the place right now".

At the end of a snowy staircase, the air began to grow warmer, just like Bernat Homeros had said it would. The snow was packed to both sides, making it look like some kind of mining tunnel. It had to be at least fifteen or twenty feet from the floor to the ceiling, so I didn't feel too trapped.

It really was quite beautiful, especially considering that it was an army base underground. I wasn't too much a fan of _underground._ And, I'm sure, Konstantin did not like the memory of wasting away inside that underground cell.

But these snowy walls were something that a New Englander could appreciate. I felt like it made Willow's eyes stand out more, too. With the memory of yesterday's date fresh in our minds, even though Cole had caught us, her eyes were also fresh for me. It seemed so clear; this girl was _mine._

Right now, though, that wasn't important. What _was_ important was that Homeros was giving us the tour.

"This is the dining hall" he said, opening a door in front of us.

And then our jaws dropped.

* * *

The dining hall of the Fichinan army base made that of the flight academy look childish. If _that_ was the little Unitarian church that was just struggling to stay afloat, then _this_ dining hall was Notre Dame.

The ceiling must have been a good five hundred feet tall, and I could literally see three hundred yards across, there were tables there. Since it was about the time of the day that we ate breakfast on the Great Fox, we could see people munching on eggs, bacon, bagels, and all your other breakfast foods.

"There's _no way_ we could've just gone 500 feet underground through that staircase alone" Mike said.

I had to agree with him. _How_ could we have gotten here like that?

Then, I remembered the mountain that the entrance to the hangar bay had been situated near. We must be underneath that mountain right now, in order to have a ceiling so high.

The walls were made out of cyan ice, much like you see in pictures of the ice underneath glaciers. It was beautiful and yet terrifying at the same time.

The last time I had been underneath so much ice, it had been because it had collapsed on top of me. I was trapped there with Fox during a mission that was undertaken to defuse a bomb underneath the glacier. It hadn't ended up working out too well, and Fox and I had been the only two stuck in a seven-foot sphere of air. I'd become so hypothermic that I had fallen asleep and woken up in the hospital wing. For a few days, I had felt very sluggish indeed.

I wasn't eager to experience that again, to say the least.

"Lucas...are you thinking about...?" Willow asked, tapping me on the shoulder.

I turned around and nodded discreetly, making sure that none of the others were able to see.

"That's enough side conversation!" Homeros snapped. He could really be demanding when he wanted to be.

"Sorry" my girlfriend said, trying to defuse the tension in the situation.

"Of course..." the older Bengal tiger said. "In any case, you will get a temporary tattoo each day of what you will be supposed to do. You will eat breakfast here, in general, at 7:30 every morning. Lunch is at 12:00, and dinner at 18:00. You will be expected to attend evening meetings at 20:00, before going to bed at 22:00. Do you understand, or do I have to repeat it to you again".

All of us confirmed that we did understand Homeros's instructions. He had been very clear on them, after all.

"Your jobs will involve anything and everything that you can do to help us with the war effort. And, as I would remind you all, you're all highly motivated to do so, because it might be Konstantin Brockenbough's best chance at getting pardoned".

This angered me a little bit, but I didn't let it show. It seemed like this Bernat Homeros fellow was trying to manipulate us using the fact that we wanted Konstantin pardoned, but I couldn't be quite sure.

"In any case", Homeros said, "it is time to go and show you the place you will sleep for the duration of your stay at the military base. It's not quite a five-star hotel, but it's not too far off from it".

* * *

Bernat Homeros led us down a hallway where it was illuminated red and purple, thanks to the lights set up every twenty feet or so. Eventually, he led us down a second fork to our room.

"This is room 1652791, and it's where you will be staying. I hope it is to your liking".

As he opened the door, I saw that it was, indeed, a very nice room to sleep in.

* * *

There were ten beds lined up next to each other. Somehow, they must have made it so that each one was adjusted to our height. If so, that meant that they must have known to a reasonably high degree of certainty that we were coming. At the foot of each bed was a trunk with a name on it, like COLE or WILL.

As to the beds themselves, the frames were made of ice blocks up from the floor, and they would not look comfortable at first. However, they were covered in so many furs that I doubted that my pajamas would get wet.

Wait... _my pajamas?_

"Falco", I said, "do you have our clothes with you?" Since he wasn't holding anything in his hands, it wasn't hard to guess the most likely answer to that question.

"I'll get them from the Great Fox" Falco replied, but then Homeros cut him off.

"A bellhop is coming to take your clothes here. That's why the trunks are here. You'll keep your clean clothes there. Laundry is done every Saturday...which is today. It's February 7, isn't it?"

"That's correct" Mrs. Hooter said.

"There is also a laundry bag, colored #C4CA19, that is for your socks, pants, shirt...anything you've already worn, that you judge as dirty".

And yes, an olive yellow sack was placed at the foot of each bed, next to the trunk.

"There's a bathroom over there. We get a lot of snow, so each of you are allowed one bath a week, the others can only be showers. Our goal is to make your stay here as comfortable as possible".

"I'm not so sure about this place" Ian said, wrinkling his nose. "It seems kind of...dirty to me. What if someone decided to mark their territory in the snow?"

"That's no way to talk, Ian!" Willow exclaimed. "You've got to do whatever you can to help in the war effort. Whether we're winning or losing, isn't it worth it to know that if we _do_ lose, it's not your fault? At least we're going to be doing _something_ here".

Personally, I didn't see what all the fuss Ian was making was all about. It sure seemed pretty comfortable to me, and, if not a five-star hotel, probably at least three and a half.

* * *

 **COLE'S POV**

After we spent some time checking out our accommodations and unpacking, we were told that we were each going to be heading to individual rooms for medical examinations. This was important, because our height and weight would determine what we were going to be served for breakfast, lunch, and dinner.

My individual examiner was not a Bengal tiger. Instead, it was an anthropomorphic elephant. Let me tell you: I'd seen some crazy things. I'd seen a wasp nest explode, a monumental avalanche, and of course a tiger as my physician. Not only that, but we'd rescued a death row prisoner, who was standing right near us at this very moment.

But I had _never_ seen an athropomorphic elephant.

I was taken into a medical room, the walls of which were thankfully _not_ made of snow.

"Cole McCallen, my name is Dr. Tuskland, and I'm going to measure and weigh you to determine everything that we will need to know. First off: Do you have any life-threatening allergies?"

"No food allergies, but I once almost died from getting stung by about a bazillion wasps. I'm deathly allergic to those".

"You don't have to worry about that here" Dr. Tuskland said. "There are no wasps on Fichina. I mean, how could there be? It's a freezing ice planet! Anyway, do you have any other physical or mental health conditions we should know about?"

"No" I said.

"Very well, then. Please step on the scale, then".

"Isn't there a height board as well?" I asked.

"No, the scale is all that's needed".

I stepped on the scale, and Dr. Tuskland read the numbers floating above my head, practically three-dimensional and scarlet in color.

"Five feet, nine and a half inches, one hundred and forty-five pounds" she said. "This is a healthy weight for your height...and I want you to know as well that we don't mess around here. You'll be given exactly the amount of calories you need to get through the day while maintaining a healthy weight. I think you are just about good to go, Cole. I don't have any special concerns for you".

I had grown half an inch since I had started at the Grey Clouds Flight Academy, but the examination in general was pretty similar to how it had been the first time, on the very same day as Lucas and Willow.

"It's time for you to go to lunch. I hope you enjoy it".

* * *

After my examination was complete, I was told the way back to the cafeteria, which was not too hard to find. There were arrows pointing the way, which was hard for me to notice the first time. I also saw that, just like there had been at the original school, there were those red Swiss crosses pointing to the medical area.

In any case, I reached the cafeteria, and the 500-foot ceiling was just as magnificent the second time as it had been the first time. One thing I did wonder, however, was why it was necessary to built it so tall. Whatever it was, though, I didn't care.

I found the table where Lucas and Willow were sitting at. Apparently, the others were going to join as well.

"She said that our meals will be delivered to us individually" Lucas said. "Based on our caloric needs".

 _Did Lucas just sound like a total geek or what!_ I thought.

"Cool" I said. "Let's see what I get".

Eventually, our waitress, I guess you could call it that, came by. On my tray there was a ham and cheese sandwich, an apple, and a bag of Cape Cod potato chips.

"Well, cheers" I said to Lucas, clinking my glass of water against his.

"Cheers to you, too" he replied, taking a swig from his.

"What about me?" Will and Willow asked together, then both laughed.

However, I was feeling anything but light-hearted at the moment. After all, we were now at this foreign army base. Hopefully, we would be able to defeat the Anglars and get Konstantin pardoned...but who knew whether or not either of those things were even _possible?_ And how dangerous would our daily work be? Would we go on combat missions much like we had at the GCFA? If so, would we get trapped under another glacier?

* * *

Once we were finished eating, Homeros came back over to our table. "It's time to give you guys a more thorough tour of the base. I don't want any of you getting lost, and I want you to know more about the place that you will be spending some time in".

"Are you guys ready for another tour?" Falco asked. "I, personally, don't really need it, since I've been here before".

"That's fine" Homeros said. "You don't have to go with us. But everyone else will be coming with me".

Nobody looked like they were about to protest, which was good. Because I could tell that you did _not_ want to get on the bad side of Bernat Homeros.

* * *

We left the cafeteria, and Homeros led us up a flight of stairs, which I recognized as part of the one we had gone down in order to get in here. Then, he turned us left and led us down another hallway. This one was more teal than cyan or white, and it thus had a much creepier feel despite not being as far underground. I just hoped that it would not be where we would be spending so much of our time.

"This here is the gym. Look in the door to your left".

I saw a series of exercise machines backed into one corner of a large cyan room, which had a rock-climbing wall on one side that extended thirty feet up to the ceiling. Other than that, its floor looked just like a basketball court you would expect to see in any grade school gymnasium.

"And then, here is the place where you will discuss war strategy. It's a nice, comfortable room, and there is a SMARTBoard up there that we will put up maps of the galaxy on. There, we can help to figure out what the best things we can do going forward are".

He led us past bathrooms, offices, and other hallways before he showed us into a magnificent room. It might not have been quite as grand as the cafeteria, but it was still quite a sight to behold.

It was the library.

* * *

There were ten stories of bookshelves and catwalks, with ladders available to access whatever books you wanted. There were attendants all over the place, but the important thing to keep in mind was that all of this was made of ice, so I would probably break my neck if I tried to climb the stairs.

On the part where a window would be, there were paintings, much like you would see in a cathedral of Jesus and his disciples. The floor was covered in tables, with chairs made of ice. Even the bookshelves were made of ice, albeit dyed purple.

"It's pretty awesome" I said.

"I know" Homeros said. "I've been working here forty years, and it never fails to amaze me even today. Sometimes, you might be here. Who knows?"

"This is like District 13!" Ian said excitedly.

"Yeah, it is" the older Bengal tiger said. "This is pretty much like that. In fact, it's where we got the idea from".

"Wait..." Lucas said. "You read books from Earth on Fichina?"

"Yeah" Dr. Howler said. "At the GCFA, there was a library of Earthly books too".

Looking at Konstantin, I could tell that he would probably be good for any jobs involving the library, but I didn't say that to him.

After the library, we were led back up a staircase that had eight levels. The first three were lime green, the next two were orange, and the top three were blue just like the rest of the place.

"For now, you guys are free to explore. And just so you don't get lost...".

He dug into the pocket of his jacket and produced what looked like nine mobile phones.

"Enter your room number, and it'll tell you where to go. Remember; it's 1652791. Dinner is at eighteen hundred hours".

* * *

We spent the rest of the afternoon exploring the underground base, amazed that there was all this below the surface of such an icy planet, and yet it was a rather comfortable temperature. The phone/GPS things also were top of the line, so it was easy to find our way back to our rooms when it was time to get ready for dinner.

As I ate with my roommates, I got the feeling that tomorrow was going to be a very big day. Our first of an indeterminate number of days at the Fichina base.

* * *

 **LUCAS'S POV**

Even though it was an unfamiliar environment, I was tired enough that night that I slept pretty well. As I had predicted, the many furs lain over the icy bed frame made it far more comfortable than one might think. Even the chilling factor of the ice was negated by the blankets.

When I woke up, I was the second one after Willow. We didn't go over to each other's beds, even though we were completely out in the open as being together. That would have just been a little odd, and there was the fact that we didn't want to wake the others up if we didn't need to.

Eventually, though, everybody was up, and we were thus able to get ready for breakfast. Today, I chose to wear a purple shirt and turquoise pants. How ironic was it that I had found the GCFA weird, and now saw it as _normal?_

In reality, it had been nearly three weeks since we had been forced to leave that location due to an invasion from the Anglars. It wasn't exactly the most desirable scenario for us, but it had been what had to happen. And _this_ was the reason that Konstantin had been imprisoned; they had needed a scapegoat to pin the blame on, and, for flipping off the Cornerian flag, Konstantin Brockenbough was right in the firing line.

Once everyone else had gotten up, Falco showed us where the tattoo machine was. Much like the hand stamper at a lot of museums you go to, we were each stamped with navy blue ink that spelled out our schedule.

"All right" I said. "I've got _0730, Breakfast_ first. Then it's _0830, Strategy._ How about you guys?"

"I've got the same thing as you" Ian said.

"Okay, everyone" Dr. Howler said. "Let's go to breakfast, and then we'll figure everything else out".

* * *

After we were finished eating, Ian, Willow, and myself headed to Strategy. I didn't know what this would entail, but I was excited for it nonetheless. I wanted to know the actual state of the war for once, not just wander aimlessly, following my schedule.

It wasn't too difficult to find the room. Following Homeros's instructions, as well as the directions from other people we found around the base, we were able to work together to find it.

Once we got there, we were briefed on the current state of the war.

"So," Willow said, looking into the eyes of the person telling us this, "will you bring up the map of the Lylat System on the SMARTBoard for us?"

"Sure" the instructor (for lack of a better word), who seemed to be some kind of bull, said. He pulled a remote out of his pocket and turned on the SMARTBoard. "This is how things are going" the bull said.

* * *

We saw the planet of Corneria, a blue planet that much resembled Earth, on the left side of the screen. This was the home planet of Fox, Falco, Katt, and Dr. Howler, among others, so it was definitely an important place. Evidently, the Anglar forces, after taking control of the original Grey Clouds Flight Academy, had begun to utilize the arsenal there. Luckily, we had managed to take a decent bit with us, so it wasn't like they had _everything._ Even so, I could tell why they wanted somebody to blame.

"Meteo is definitely pretty dangerous" the bull, who had told us his name was Mr. Bighorn, said. "I know that the group with Konstantin Brockenbough, still at large on Corneria, traveled through here. In doing so, they took quite a bit of risk. There are enemies hiding out everywhere, although whether or not they are affiliated with the Anglars is not known at this time. It's also not very valuable territory thanks to the meteors and meteorites that cover the place".

Mr. Bighorn continued by telling us that this planet was pretty safe for now, and the base, pretty much the only inhabited part, had a lot of defenses. We would most likely be safe here.

"Sector X has all sorts of space junk all over the place, and the key thing to remember is that most of it _can_ be weaponized. This is pretty valuable, and we are luckily winning this battle at the moment. However, the tides can easily turn. We'll be doing as much as possible to win that battle".

Mr. Bighorn zoomed in on the red planet, Titania. In the game, this is the planet that Slippy gets shot down to if you take too long to defeat the Sector X boss (which I always did). If that happens, you end up getting the bad ending, which is that the Andross you defeated was fake.

"This is Titania. Since it's desert, it's not very valuable, so we're not delegating too many troops and resources to it. Even so, any little bit helps, but it's not a priority for us".

Willow looked kind of bored, which wasn't surprising to me given that she had never even played the video game. I, on the other hand, was excited. I got the same feeling as I had nearly two months ago of being _inside_ a video game. That's not a feeling you get very often, let me tell you.

"The Bolse Defense Satellite has been destroyed, but it was replaced by another one. This is another place that is quite important to control, and since we're losing there, it's not a place that we can afford not to allocate resources to. This is another place that people are going to be heading to and from a lot, and yet it's just about a week away from here. That's an important thing to remember".

Mr. Bighorn then went back to the beginning of the Lylat System and pointed at a planet that slightly resembled Jupiter.

"This is Katina, and we have a base there. It's not under too much attack at the moment, but we need to station some troops there to help deter an attack. Rest assured, we are doing that. Solar, on the other hand, is absolutely useless, due to literally being an enormous ball of _lava._ We can pass on that".

Finally, he pointed to a gray planet.

"This is Macbeth. No, not _that_ Macbeth. No, this is the enemy base. As it was pivotal in the first Lylat War, surely it will be in this one as well.

"That's it for the medium route. We now move onto the hard route, or the upper reaches of the Lylat System".

Mr. Bighorn showed us a green cloud shaped like a Y.

"Sector Y is dangerous with all its magnetic energy, so it's not likely that the Anglars will try to get to it. Aquas is similar, and Zoness is so toxic from all that Andross did that the Anglars would never want it!"

"And Sector Z?" someone in front of us asked.

"That area is also not too important, with all the debris. But, like Meteo and Sector X, it could be weaponized. And Area 6...that's dangerous for us. That's their main defense zone. We will plan to attack it".

Finally, Mr. Bighorn pointed at the largest planet on the far right. "This is Venom, and you don't want to end up on the ground there. The air's toxic, the gravity is stronger than Corneria, and it's always dark there. Not to mention, **it's their home court!** We'll try to take it once we've taken Macbeth and Area 6. We're going to try to back them into a corner from which there is no way out".

Then, he turned to all of us. "And you will be facilitators in all of that. Who here is excited for the opportunity?"

Most of us raised our hands. Ian was a notable exception. I wanted to do everything possible to help us win the war against the people that had been indirectly responsible for Konstantin almost being executed. What better revenge?

* * *

You're not going to believe what I had next...Ice Skating with Cole. Yes, that's right.

The ice rink was some stories down, and it was added automatically to my GPS. _That's handy,_ I thought. They had had good technology at the GCFA, but now it was even cooler. No pun intended.

"I'm not that great of a skater" Cole said. "Why do you think they are even doing this here?"

"Maybe we need to skate to get away from the Anglar forces on some occasions" I said, chuckling.

"Very funny".

We reached the ice rink, and before the instructor came over to show us how to put on our skates, Cole asked me, "So...how are you at skating?"

"I'm all right. My father taught me, since he plays hockey competitively".

Bringing up the topic of my father didn't make me happy. He had been a facilitator in sending me to the GCFA, and that was quite selfish of him. If, for whatever reason, we ended up getting out of this alternate dimension, I would not be sending him a Father's Day card anytime soon.

As soon as the instructor, who seemed to be some kind of a seal, came over, he asked us what our shoe size was.

"Thirteen" I said.

"Eleven" Cole said.

He went into a room with ice skates and retrieved a pair of each of those sizes. Expecting to have to painfully squeeze my foot in there, I was quite surprised when, just like magic, the skate landed on my foot in a comfortable position. All of the laces immediately tightened.

"What..." I sputtered.

"Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic" the seal said.

Personally, I had always had a problem with Clarke's Third Law. I always saw technology as something that humans could achieve given enough time, and magic as something that humans were, by some natural or supernatural law, barred from doing. It would always be impossible. After all, in the Harry Potter books, there are some people born with the ability to use magic, while most are not.

But that's enough about that.

* * *

We were led onto the rink, and Cole immediately stumbled. Trying to right himself, he fell on his rump.

I tried not to laugh. "It's okay, Cole. It just takes some practice".

"That's true, Mr. Enfield. With practice, Mr. McCallen, you will be able to be skilled at skating. On Fichina, ice skating is very important, just because of the whole fact that you're on ice and trying to skate away from the Anglars might be a very real priority. Don't laugh; it's happened before".

"In any case," the seal said, "skate three laps around this rink, just so I can see where you are all at. I want to know how confident you are on the ice".

Then, the seal said, "On your mark...get set...GO!"

I shoved off and managed to avoid falling on my ass. I didn't go too quickly, because I always preferred to be rather cautious when skating. It wasn't too difficult for me, since I had plenty of practice.

Within a minute, I had completed my first lap, and Cole had only gotten a quarter of that length. Wanting to show off that _I_ would be the one to beat him on the ice this time, I picked up speed after lapping him. Feeling my purple jacket billowing around me, I felt the rush of air around me, and I remembered just how exhilarating skating could be.

By the time I was done with my third lap, Cole was just finishing his first. I didn't mean to rub it in, but I stopped short of crashing into a wall. Which was a good thing, because I didn't feel like breaking my arm or getting a concussion anytime soon.

"Nice job, Mr. Enfield" the seal said.

We had to wait for Cole to be done before we could proceed. Since there was only one instructor, we had to pander to Cole a lot, which was a little annoying to me. However, I understood that he was fairly new to ice skating, and so we had to be lenient and try not to resent him for that. Even so, it was hard not to be pissed off at that.

"All right" said our instructor once Cole was done with all three of his laps. "It's time to do some skulls. Can you?"

For those of you who don't know, in ice skating, skulls are when you start with your feet close together and spread them out as you go forward. It's hell on your knees, and you can't skate very quickly while doing that. At the same time, it is incredibly rewarding to know that you are capable of doing such.

All in all, it was a pretty good lesson for me. For Cole, not so much. However, I consider myself a fairly selfish person in general, in that I don't care what other people think that much. I care mostly for myself, thank you very much.

Unlike many other people, though, I'm _proud_ of being selfish. Or, rather, being honest enough to admit that I am selfish. It's interesting, really.

But that is neither here nor there.

Cole and I headed back up the stairs towards the cafeteria with the ceiling that was five hundred feet high.

* * *

 **WILLOW'S POV**

Lucas and I were both scheduled to go to Arwing Flight after lunch. I was looking forward to this, because of the fact that we'd been in this alternate furry dimension since December 13, 201X. Now, it was February 8 of 201Y. It sure had been a while, and now we were finally going to be shown how to pilot the most important ship in the arsenal of any Cornerian, or Fichinan, or any other planet for that matter.

The instructor of this was a dark blue cat who stood on her hind legs.

"My name is Krystal, and I am the flight instructor here. There are rumors that I might be dating Fox McCloud, but...let's just say we're friends. Really good ones".

 _Did she even need to say that?_ I thought.

"Today, I am going to show you the controls of the Arwing, so that you are able to fly it. It's not going to be the easiest thing for you to learn, but I think you can all do it, especially if you are originally from the Cornerian flight academy or somewhere else where they teach things like this".

Clearly, we were the youngest ones in the room. There were about twenty people in the room, but Krystal mainly seemed to be directing what she was saying towards Lucas and myself. In addition, there was an Arwing in the middle of the room, so Krystal would be able to demonstrate what she was showing us. This would be a big help.

Looking at Lucas, I could tell that there was a certain level of apprehension on his face. We'd been in the flight simulators at the GCFA quite a few times, but that didn't change the fact that, the first time he went in a flight simulator, Lucas was literally spun into unconsciousness due to someone tampering with the simulator. We still hadn't caught the culprit, although we had for a time thought that it might be Mike. Now, though, we figured that he had vindicated himself by not doing anything else suspicious. Whoever it was, they were still at large.

In any case, Krystal pointed out all the levers and buttons from inside the cockpit. She showed us the buttons for smart bombs, how to do a barrel roll, and other things, but she said that we would need more space to fully demonstrate it.

"There's a window here that we can use to get this outside" she said. "At some point, we'll go out to the snowfields and take turns flying it".

I was a bit nervous for that date, but I knew that we would hopefully learn more of what we needed to know before we did that.

* * *

After we were done with Arwing Flight, we were allowed to explore a little more. There were still several hours to go until dinner, so we could explore the halls for a while. I stayed with Lucas the whole time, and we even held hands.

"You know, if these people didn't figure we were a couple before this, they certainly will now" Lucas said.

"I don't know about that" I said. "Maybe they'll just think we're really good friends or something".

We passed another few offices and the gym before we made a right turn. After I prompted him to, Lucas added the location of our bedroom, room number 1652791, to the GPS. In case we got lost, this would help us find our way back.

"So...Lucas...how are you liking this place?" I asked him after a while. It had come totally out of the blue, at least from his perspective, so I would not have been surprised if he had refused to answer.

"It's all right. I think it's pretty cool how this entire place is made out of ice, don't you?"

"I agree. I read about this hotel in Canada where it's _all_ ice, except for the bathroom fixtures. And apparently all that ice actually _insulates_ the place. Can you believe that?"

"It's pretty amazing" Lucas said. "Just like this place...and just like you".

As he said this, he pulled me into a hug.

At the same time, a voice from behind us said, "Okay! They're a couple".

* * *

 **I just LOVE to end on cliffhangers. I think it keeps people reading, for one.**

 **For the record, the Hotel de Glace is a real thing in Quebec City. It is made ENTIRELY of ice, except for the toilet and sink. I have a deck of 51 1/2 (the half is Half Dome) places you'll go. Yes, it is related to Dr. Seuss. The Hotel de Glace was one of them. Other places on that list I want to see are the Ithaa Undersea Restaurant and maybe even that rock garden in Japan.**

 **I'll give you guys an ultimatum: I've been uploading every five days, but one reviewer (Zaravan) has said that it's too long a wait. The more reviews I get, the faster I'll update. I know a lot of people are reading this and not reviewing, so if you want to see the next chapter sooner than 5 days...REVIEW!**

 **If I have 10 reviews before February 10, I'll post the fourth chapter right then and there. If not, I'll post it at the normal time. The choice is yours, readers.**

 **One last thing: Labyrinth just hit 5,600 views. Read that story if you have not already. It's my first of two SYOTs, and I am not planning on doing a 65th anytime soon.**

 **SnowLucario out.**


	4. Venomous Dreams

**What a Super Bowl game! I didn't watch it, but the Patriots really came from behind to win it! Considering we are geographically closer to Boston, and winning the Super Bowl puts my parents in a better mood, this is a good thing for me.**

 **And here is Chapter 4. It might not be as long as the last one, but I still think it is okay. I see people like theotherpianist (who submitted Taysom for Lorax), who has a story with 24 chapters and 212,537 words. Using my long division skills, I can see that:**

 **192,000 8,000 words**

 **19,200 800 words**

 **1,337 55 words or so**

 **So that's 8,855 words per chapter. I only have a handful of chapters that are longer than that. Well done, theotherpianist. As for this story, I would like to have at least 5,500 words per chapter on average, but we will see.**

 **For the question, I'll use one from AskReddit. It's about what it's like to be autistic.**

 **SnowLucario answers: It's really tough to say, given that I have never been non-autistic. I've had it since I was two, it's just part of me. I talk OBSESSIVELY about my own interests, to the point of dominating a conversation. I'm not nonverbal or suicidal, although my voice, if you've seen it on my YouTube channel, can be very childish-sounding.**

 **Disclaimer: I don't have any money of my own. Therefore, I don't own Star Fox. It kind of sucks, but that's the way it goes.**

 **In any case, let's get to the story!**

* * *

 **LUCAS'S POV**

"Did you hear that?" I asked Willow.

"I sure did".

Someone from behind us had said, out loud, that we were a couple. I didn't know who it was, but I wasn't happy with them. For all I knew, it might have been...

"Dr. Howler?" I asked, turning around.

The Bengal tiger's face turned slightly pink from its usual white. "I didn't mean to embarrass you guys. There's no one else around. Besides, who cares if you're dating or not?"

"I think more people than you'd think, _Tigre_ Howler" Willow said sternly, as if the roles were reversed with her as the doctor and the Bengal tiger as her patient.

"I would rather not be referred to by my first name, if that's fine" the doctor said.

She waited until Willow seemed to have calmed down a bit before she said, "Look, are you going to forgive me or not? I really do think that there was no one else. I also didn't think you would hear me".

"That's no excuse for that, though" I said.

"Look, I'm _sorry._ I just hope that you can understand what I was thinking in that moment".

"I understand perfectly well" I said. "You wanted to embarrass us in front of everybody else".

"You'll forgive her, right, Lucas?" Willow asked me.

I didn't know what to say. I mean, she really hadn't _meant_ to embarrass us. And, besides, I owed her my life, and so, no doubt, did many other students. She deserved to be forgiven.

"I forgive you" I said.

"Thanks" Dr. Howler said. "I was hoping that you would. I really do think you make a good couple, though".

"Why are you here right now?" Willow asked the doctor.

"I'm heading to the hospital wing at the moment. I'm wanted there in order to become more acquainted with their medical facilities. Besides, there are some wounded people to treat. Do you want to come?"

Willow looked at me, probably wondering what I was going to say.

"What time is it?" I asked.

"It's sixteen hundred hours, or four o'clock for you Earth folks" Dr. Howler replied, checking her watch. "Come! I'll show you guys around, and I think you'll find it pretty interesting. After all, eventually you will have to learn how to treat wounds and other things like that. Even though we might no longer be at the Grey Clouds Flight Academy, these skills are no less important".

"I guess we should go, then" Willow said.

I looked down at my feet, more than five feet from my eyes (my full height being 6 feet, 2 inches). I wondered what we would find in the hospital wing that Dr. Howler was going to show us, and what the patient who needed treating was there for.

I'm not really that squeamish around blood, I'm not one to faint when getting shots. However, I was not in the mood to see someone whose brains were spilling all over the bedsheets at the moment. Would that be what we were shown?

* * *

Dr. Howler led us down the hallway with those red Swiss crosses used to symbolize medicine. This led to the hospital wing, and she let us inside.

The hospital wing was not like the rest of the base. For instance, there were cabinets of bandages and things everywhere, as well as cots with IV stands. But the most important difference was that, except for the walls, ceiling, and floor (covered in a light dusting of snow), _nothing was made of ice._ I suppose that Fichina is so iced over the whole time that it's even safe to build the infirmary out of ice. However, I could see why the intravenous bags, for instance, were not made of ice. That would be wildly inconvenient.

"Dr. Howler...here's the patient" an elephant doctor said, pointing to a bed on the other side of the room.

"Thank you, Dr. Tuskland" the Bengal tiger said. She headed on over to the bedside of a patient who obviously had an injured leg. It was propped up on tons of pillows, and the collie looked in severe pain. I had never broken any bones before, and I would not want to have it happen to me.

"Yes, there is a fracture there" Dr. Howler said. Then, turning to Willow and myself, she said, "I think you guys should leave the room while I set his broken leg. That's not going to be pleasant to be around, trust me".

Willow looked like she might be about to protest, but I managed to convince her that it might be best to follow the doctor's orders. After all, everything Dr. Howler had said or done so far had been to help us.

* * *

We continued exploring until dinnertime, when we were instructed to go to the cafeteria. There, we were each delivered our individual meals and sat with our group, where we discussed more about the state of the war.

"It seems pretty tense right now" Falco said. "Of course, from when we were on Corneria, I was pretty much aware of it the whole time. However, it's very important for us to be doing whatever we can. Don't you agree, Dr. Howler?"

"I definitely do" the Bengal tiger said, biting into her meatball sub. "Right now, treating the wounded here is what my job is".

"How much longer do you think we're going to stay here?" Will asked.

"That depends on a lot of things" Mrs. Hooter said. "For instance, how safe we feel here. If the Cornerians came for Konstantin, we might have to leave".

"Where would we go?" Cole asked.

"That's a good question" Falco responded. "I think we'd have to head further east to Sector X. Of course, "east" is kind of a meaningless word when you're in the middle of space. But anywhere we can help. After all, our number one goal is still to get Konstantin pardoned, if that can even be accomplished".

"Personally", Konstantin said, "I'm fine with being pardoned. Let's do whatever we can with the war effort, and if it means me getting pardoned, so much the better".

That was a big change from the Konstantin I had known for the last several weeks. That Konstantin would not have wanted to help the Lylat System with their war effort at all. Now, he seemed to be a little more willing. I didn't know why that was, but I decided not to ask.

* * *

 **COLE'S POV**

I woke up the next morning feeling a little anxious. Yeah, I was currently safe, and it had been a week since we'd left Corneria. We no longer had to worry about saving a death row prisoner.

However, the fact remained that we would have to leave this place eventually. We couldn't stay here forever, and that was an important thing to realize. I got the feeling that, at some point, we would have to make a quick getaway from this place, just like what happened with the Echo Base in _Star Wars Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back._ We didn't want that to happen, but it just might be unavoidable.

In any case, that was neither here nor there. I had to get on with my day as normally as possible, and worry about the future in, well, the future. Cross bridges when you come to them, that's my philosophy.

I got out of bed and was tattooed with my schedule for the day. I saw, when I looked at my arm, that my first commitment was to Potions. That was just great, because I didn't really know if I wanted magic and technology to mix like that. I mean, I'd read the Harry Potter books, and always figured that it would be cool to go to Hogwarts. However, I also didn't know if I'd like being taught Potions by Severus Snape.

During breakfast, I asked around to see who had Potions with me. As it turned out, Konstantin did.

I was looking forward to this. Assuming the instruction was not too intensive, this could be a bonding experience between myself and the Texan boy. It could.

"You looking forward to Potions?" I asked Konstantin.

" _Dude,_ if Harry Potter was real, I would have _loved_ Potions, it would've been my favorite subject. Let's get to this!"

Passing by Lucas and Willow, who were noticeably holding hands, we headed in the direction that our GPS's told us to go...down into the basement of the place.

* * *

Of course, the entire _base_ was underground, which meant that there technically _was_ no basement here, but I'm digressing. In any case, it was somewhat ominous to enter the tunnels that were a darker blue than the others. This should not have scared me, considering that I'm no stranger to dark places. However, there was just something about this place that made me decide that I didn't like being down here.

The Potions master at this base seemed to be some kind of German Shepherd. He stood at the front of the room, and was waiting for us along with a group of roughly twenty other students.

"Take your seats, McCallen and Brockenbough" the German Shepherd said. "I am Master Ruff, and I am the Potions instructor here?"

 _Is that seriously his name?_ I thought, looking over at Konstantin as if we were capable of telepathy.

"On Aquas", Master Ruff began, "there are many different plants that can be used to make fuel for the Arwings. Here they are, right in front of you. Normally, I would have you get them from the supply cabinet, but in this case I will just hand them to you, because that's just who I am this week".

He continued. "Using the metal bowls in front of you, you are going to make Arwing fuel. The instructions will be on the SMARTBoard in front of you".

As he said the last sentence, he pressed a button on a remote, and a twelve-point list of instructions on how to make Arwing fuel popped up. It looked pretty complicated to me.

"All right, class!" Master Ruff said. "It's time to get to work! You have an hour and a half".

* * *

We were working on our own, and we were not permitted to ask each other for help. Despite this, I felt like I could get a good enough grip on potion-making thanks to the instructions on the board.

I assessed the first line of the instructions:

 **1\. Place the sacul root in the bowl. Stir five times clockwise, then eight times counterclockwise. Repeat for ten times, meaning that once you are done with your stirring, you will have made a total of 130 revolutions.**

I searched among the roots for the one labelled as SACUL ROOT. It was purple in color and slightly shriveled up, which made sense, given that it probably grew underwater due to the fact that the planet of Aquas really _was_ just water.

I placed it in the bowl and stirred five times clockwise. Then, I stirred eight times counterclockwise, just like it told me to.

Eventually, I had made a purple paste roughly the consistency of ketchup. Of course, the fuel was far from complete.

 **2\. Using the sink, measure out about a quart of water. Pour it into the bowl and stir counterclockwise until the whole potion is generally liquid.**

I had to wait my turn at the sink, but once I had gotten there, it was not difficult to get the water and pour it all in. The stirring took a little longer than I expected, though. It wasn't too surprising, given that I had to break up some of the purple paste. Once that was done, though, the purple liquid was easy to achieve.

 **3\. Crush the eloc beans until they create an orange juice. Then, pour the juice into the bowl. It should turn roughly #CCFF99 if you're doing it right.**

Next to the hex code was a picture of a circle that was that color. Looking at what was in front of me, I found the eloc bean. I was starting to get suspicious as to why they were naming all of these plants this way, but I dismissed it.

The eloc beans were brown, but the juice was a bright orange. I collected as much of it as I could and poured it into the bowl. It wasn't the color described, which is a very light green. This was a more lime green color, more solidly green, but it was still green, and better than it being, for instance, _red._

 **4\. Add two drops of red food coloring and stir until the whole potion turns navy blue.**

This color scheme was making no sense. There was no way that orange mixed with purple could create green. I mean, this went against _everything_ you would learn in elementary-school art class, and yet here it was. This potion was defying the laws of logic.

Konstantin seemed to be having trouble. He must have done something wrong, because the potion was not even green or blue at all. Instead, it was an orange color similar to that of the Golden Gate Bridge. In addition to that, there was smoke billowing out of the top.

I wasn't allowed to help him or anything. I didn't know if Mr. Ruff would be, well, _rough,_ but I didn't want to risk it, and I wished that Konstantin didn't have to, either.

Anyway...back to the instructions. My potion, since it wasn't the proper green, had changed into a color blue more similar to cyan than navy. I hoped that I could get things back on track.

 **5\. Put in five ekim grapes and crush the potion. Be careful not to splash it all over your body, because this can be a very corrosive substance.**

And it went on and on like this. At a certain point, I had to wonder why there were so many plants with names that were our own spelled backwards. Was it just a coincidence? It would have to be a pretty crazy one, that's for sure.

* * *

Once our potions were done, Mr. Ruff went on over to mine first.

"A good job overall, McCallen, although I think it should be gamboge rather than that bright yellow. As for you, Brockenbough...that is a very poor job, and I expected better of you. That is useless for Arwing fuel. To be fair, so is yours, McCallen. But a good first go".

After that, we were dismissed to go to our next thing. For me, it was Arwing Mechanics.

It was not Slippy Toad who taught it this time. No, it was what looked like Slippy's father teaching it. As far as I knew, Slippy was still back on Corneria. Maybe he had something to do with the manhunt for Konstantin, although they of course would not find the Texan youth on the planet.

"I am Beltino Toad, the father of Slippy Toad. I will be teaching you how to fix the engine of an Arwing today".

Beltino sounded like he was croaking a bit, which was understandable given his obvious age. He walked with a cane, but he could still hopefully teach this class. It really would be helpful to know what to do in case of an emergency when the Arwings weren't working. Given that we might be heading back to the Great Fox any day now, it would really be good information to have.

"First, take your screwdriver and unscrew the top off...".

The class wasn't too interesting. Then again, I had always been more interested in _breaking_ things rather than fixing them. Even now, this was kind of coming into play. Really, there isn't too much to say about it.

* * *

At lunch, Lucas seemed fairly interested in Potions, or rather what we had learned there.

"It's pretty cool that there is a _sacul_ root. I mean, that's pretty clearly my first name spelled backwards!" He was chuckling as he said this.

"I know" Konstantin said. "Is that a coincidence, though?"

"I'm not a hundred percent sure that it's a coincidence or not, although I'm leaning more towards the latter" I said. "It is a little bit suspicious, but why would it be anything to worry about?

* * *

 **KONSTANTIN'S POV**

Ever since that night when I had been freed from my underground cell, nightmares had plagued me just about every night. Even before getting taken to Corneria, I had been no stranger to them. Now, though, I was becoming a stranger to _not_ having nightmares. And they were invariably about the prison, or the events before or after that, including that fateful drive on the Bastrop County highway.

I wanted something else. Be it a nightmare or not, I wanted to dream of something else for a change.

As I settled into my icy bed on the evening of February 10, the universe delivered on my wish.

* * *

This was a classic case of "be careful what you wish for". Because, unfortunately, it was a nightmare.

I found myself on a desert. I felt quite a bit heavier than usual, and it wasn't like the Sahara Desert, with the sun. The very air here was quite hot, and it felt toxic somehow. Breathing in and out, I could barely get a deep breath in. It was also difficult to catch my breath from walking, I realized.

Beyond that, however, it was dark. This really did look like a place of death and destruction if I'd ever seen one. And I'd been _hundreds of feet below the summit of a mountain._ If anyone should be the expert of places like this, it was me.

I saw what looked like some kind of temple in front of me, made out of gamboge-colored stone, similar to the color of some of the sand all over the place here. I felt a presence inside there, something malevolent. I knew that everything inside of me was telling my feet not to take me inside the temple. Especially considering that I'm not religious, you'd think that I would avoid this place at all costs.

However, I felt the urge to go inside the temple. I got the feeling that there was something there that I _needed_ to know about, and that I'd likely regret it if I didn't go in. By the way, I was aware the whole time that it was a dream, but I still felt that it was dangerous.

It's much like rock climbing when you're wearing a harness. You might not fall to the ground and die, but you could still be afraid of heights.

In any case, I entered the temple, not knowing what I would find there. I had, however, figured one thing out:

I was on the planet Venom, which was one of the most dangerous planets to be on, had this not been a dream. At that moment, I was **very** glad that this was just a dream.

* * *

I entered the temple, and immediately I felt myself lift off the floor. I sure as hell hoped that I couldn't be seen like this, because it would have been fairly embarrassing. I was just _floating,_ thirty feet off the floor of the temple, ten feet from the ceiling, and I didn't know what was about to happen.

"You're late, Wolf" said a gruff voice.

A gray lupine walked in. With a chill running down my spine, I realized that this was Wolf O'Donnell, the hand-to-hand combat instructor from the Grey Clouds Flight Academy. That fucker had been the **sole reason that I was convicted.** He'd managed to convince enough jurors to convict me that I was the culprit.

And now he'd turned.

"Sorry" the lupine said. "The Wolfen had a couple of difficulties getting here. It can be fixed here, Panther, right?"

"Yeah" the creature known as Panther said. "There's a docking bay right back there. Can you fly it there?"

"I will...after we're done with our little chat" Wolf replied.

Another chill ran down my spine. I had a feeling that, whatever their _little chat_ was about, it was nothing that was in my interest.

"What do you think of this new team?" Wolf asked Panther. "Star Enfield? They were students at the Grey Clouds Flight Academy for about seven weeks...then they ran away with an escaped prisoner. None of this had to happen, and yet it did **just because of them!** "

I had never heard of the Star Enfield team, but I had a good idea of who that was supposed to be. And I was the escaped prisoner they were talking about. At the time, I had just wanted to die, but at this point I was glad to be living. I was glad that this was only a dream, because that brain in the corner looked pretty ominous.

"Andross is rising" Panther said, pointing to the brain. "Another few months, and he will be complete. If they think that the Anglars are a threat, they ain't seen nothing yet!"

"You didn't answer my question" Wolf said indignantly. "What do you think of Star Enfield? A team, led by Lucas Enfield, that are working to defeat the Anglar forces?"

"Who is this Lucas Enfield person?" Panther asked the lupine. "He sounds like some big military dude".

"He's actually only sixteen years old, and is originally from a small town called Swanville, Maine in the human dimension. He's been on a mission before, to try to defuse the bomb that **we** planted underneath the glacier. And **I** tampered with the simulator, causing him to pass out, because I really did see potential in the kid".

I hadn't been at the school, but Lucas had told me about both of those occasions. He'd been spun so much in the flight simulator that he'd passed out. He'd been trapped under the ice thanks to the avalanche for a good fifteen hours before being rescued and revived by Dr. Howler.

As for the name Star Enfield, I'd never called it that, and neither had anyone else. We were really just a ragtag group of teenagers, along with a Bengal tiger, an owl archer, and Falco Lombardi with us.

"The group consists of Enfield, Willow Foster, Michael Kirk, William Wexford, Cole McCallen, Tigre Howler, Athena Hooter, and Falco Lombardi. And don't forget Konstantin Brockenbough. He's the escaped prisoner".

"That Willow girls sounds like she might be hot" Panther said.

"That doesn't matter right now, you **imbecile**!" Wolf shouted, banging his fist on the table, nearly knocking the jar containing the brain over. "What does matter, is that this threat be eliminated. I doubt we could get all of them in one go. They're at the military base in Fichina, for crying out loud! That place has defenses up the wazoo".

"So who do we kill?" Panther asked the lupine. "Not Willow, I would hope".

"I think it's an easy choice" Wolf responded. "Kill Enfield. Cut off the head of the snake. If we can do that, we'll significantly reduce group morale for sure. They'll be less of a threat, and we can get rid of the rest of them more easily".

"How would we kill the boy? He'll probably be shadowed by tons of others".

"Simple" Wolf said. "I know where there's a warp from here to Fichina. I could get there within a week, and perform the kill. It's quite easy, I've got my blaster. Shoot him in the heart, he's dead, no ifs, ands, or buts. The lasers are pretty effective".

"And then, Andross rises" Panther said. "And then, we rule Lylat. Sounds great, right?"

"Yep. And that kid can be a fast runner, he's got such long legs. Tie him to a chair?"

"Sure. And then maybe I can get Willow for myself".

I screamed; I couldn't help myself. I was glad those two couldn't notice me, because I found myself plummeting downwards, towards the floor...

* * *

...and into my own bed.

I sat up, my face covered in sweat. It wasn't the same sweat that I'd had in the prison cell, and eventually stopped producing through sheer dehydration.

 _This_ was a cold sweat, and it wasn't from working out or anything like that. I knew, without question, that my dream had been real. Wolf O'Donnell and Panther Caroso were plotting to kill Lucas Enfield. Cut off the head of the snake, as it were.

And I knew, without any shadow of a doubt, that I **needed** to tell Lucas about this.

* * *

 **MRS. ENFIELD'S POV**

My eyes opened in the morning. I might no longer have my son, but at least I was with my husband, and we were safe for now. We were hugging each other the whole time we were asleep, which was about typical for us. We loved each other a lot, but we had also loved our son.

"It gets harder and harder to get up every morning" my husband, Ken, said. "I just can't stop thinking about...things. Things that we've already done. Things that might still happen".

"February sixteenth, in the year 201Y. Yeah, things are not going too well for us, are they?"

"You can say that again, Leyla" Ken said. He looked at me with a sober expression.

"I'm regretting it, Ken. I'm regretting selling Lucas over to those people. Who knows where he is now? But we _had_ to do it. It was **five hundred thousand dollars**. And, not only that, but that man...our town wasn't going to fare well, let's say that much".

Two months ago, a man had come and put a gun up to my head. He'd told me that unless I sold my son to the Grey Clouds Flight Academy on Corneria, he was going to kill the whole town. In rural Maine, we're very protective of our neighbors. We love our neighbors, even though ours is the least religious state in the nation.

And he'd offered us a sum of half a million dollars. For us, that was the difference between losing our home and not losing our home. Given that it was one life, that might not even be sacrificed, for over a thousand people not dying, the choice was obvious, even if it did hurt a lot to willingly sell your own son to another planet's military academy.

"I have a bad feeling, Ken. I feel that Lucas is in trouble".

My husband patted me on the back once again. "It's probably nothing, Leyla".

 **I haven't been getting as many views as I would have liked, only 179 right now.**

 **Yes, I did feel the need to explain what happened with the Enfields, and why they sold their son. I felt that I needed more expansion on that, and the chapter would have been too short otherwise. As for the mechanic things...I didn't find it too interesting. Even so, this chapter was a little shorter than I wanted it to be.**

 **I hope you enjoy the next chapter, which is likely to be much longer, probably the longest chapter in the story thus far. EDIT: It is.**

 **One last thing: My mother is forcing me to take piano lessons. However, I may put up a cover of Surrender by Billy Talent (the song from Chapter 2) on my YouTube channel under the same name once I actually manage to learn it.**


	5. Shootings And Sing-Alongs

**450,000 WORDS! Another milestone passed!**

 **I'm on 20 favorites lists now! The 20th, HanSoloHockeyGuy, is actually someone I know personally. In your review, see if you can guess who he is!**

 **Here is the longest chapter yet, beating out the previous one by a decent amount. I hope that you enjoy it, and watch that bar on the right-hand side of the screen start to disintegrate.**

 **And yes, I DO know how to spell "ghost". It's just a reference to A Haunted House, when they ask the ouija board if it's a demon or a ghost, and the ghost replies "G-O-S-T". It makes my dad crack up to this day.**

 **Singlewave asks: What is your favorite foreign food?**

 **SnowLucario answers: You know, there is no easy answer to that question for me. On one hand, I really don't like Mexican food. Maybe it's because I live in New England, more than 2,000 miles from most places in Mexico. Also, if our president goes ahead with the wall, which Trump seems to be doing, it'll get even worse for Mexican food. Like I said, though, I don't like Mexican food anyway.**

 **Rather, I think I like udon from the Japanese place near my house. Or chicken teriyaki, but I'm leaning more towards the former. Not counting pizza or pasta. As for nachos...they're really just tortilla chips with a ton of cheese on them. Who cares?**

 **Disclaimer: I might get a job next summer, I might not. I wouldn't be having this debate with myself if I owned Star Fox.**

* * *

 **KONSTANTIN'S POV**

When I woke up after having my nightmare, it must have been several hours before everybody else got up. Even so, I couldn't go back to sleep, and the reasons for that should be completely obvious. As one of the people who had helped to save my life, hearing a plot to kill Lucas was something that really riled me up.

It scared me, too. Although nobody had said it, Lucas had a large role in keeping this team together. To hear that they were plotting to kill him...well, I guess that it did make sense, but...yeah. It wasn't something I liked to think about.

Unfortunately, I would _have_ to think about it if I was to tell Lucas. To keep him safe from these people who plainly wanted to hurt him. Looking around at the dark blue walls made of ice, and the fine dusting of snow on the ground, I could only hope that Lucas would wake up early as well, so that I could have a heart-to-heart with him and tell him to try to take care of himself. He'd have to avoid or survive a gunshot, after all.

I only hoped that he would wake up in time for this conversation to happen. It was one that needed to happen soon, because if it didn't, we would not have too much time. According to Wolf, he would arrive on Fichina within a week. As for Lucas waking up, he's kind of a wild card. He can be a very heavy sleeper at times, or he can be a light sleeper on occasion. Although I could bet that in an unfamiliar environment like this, he might be a light one. Only time would tell.

* * *

Luckily, Lucas woke up about an hour before we were supposed to get tattooed. None of the others were up yet, and I knew this was my chance.

"Lucas, I have something very important to tell you. _In private._ Can we go inside the bathroom?"

"Sure" he said warily. I could tell that the words _in private_ set off alarm bells inside his head. He knew that the news was not good.

We went inside the bathroom that our, for want of a better word, _dormitory_ shared. Because it was kind of a small space to stand in, I sat on the toilet while Lucas stood up, leaning against the shower/bathtub.

"There's just no way to sugarcoat it, Lucas" I said.

"What do you mean?" he asked me. I could tell that I just needed to drop the bomb now instead of tap-dancing around it. That was never going to work.

"Lucas, I think that Wolf O'Donnell is plotting to kill you".

His reaction was almost exactly just as I had imagined it. He clearly looked alarmed, and he had to grab onto the bar from which the shower curtains hung in order to avoid collapsing. I sat him down until he was lying down in the bathtub. He would have looked very odd indeed taking a bath in his pajamas, so I was careful not to start it.

"What do you mean? How do you know?" Lucas asked.

"I had a dream-".

"Oh, _really_?" Lucas sneered. "And I had a dream that Maximum Ride came to show-and-tell in my little brother's elementary school class. I don't even _have_ a little brother, or any siblings at all".

Now, **I** was the one to ask the question, "What do you mean?".

"Telling me about your dreams won't get you anywhere. It doesn't mean anything. It's just a fucking _dream_ ".

"You are a really bad liar, Lucas Zantry Enfield" I said.

It was true. As much as he might let on that he wasn't scared, Lucas was pale and looked like he would indeed faint if he wasn't lying down.

"I'll...take every precaution I can. I'm sorry. What gave it away?

"It's just that you looked more like you were trying to convince yourself that you were safe rather than telling the truth" I said. "I can tell things, Lucas, based on people's body language".

"I get it" Lucas said. "Maybe it has something to do with the fact that I have Asperger's. I've never been very good at reading people, and you seem to be no exception".

Just then, there was a knock on the door.

"Is anyone in there?" said the voice of Dr. Howler.

"Yeah. Do you want in?" I asked.

"Konstantin! Is Lucas in there with you?"

"Yeah, he is. Do you want to see him?"

I opened the door and let the Bengal tiger in. She saw Lucas lying at the bottom of the bathtub, looking as if he had just seen a gost.

"What's wrong with him?" the doctor asked me.

I made eye contact with Lucas. In that moment, we both registered that we could _not_ let Dr. Howler know what I had dreamt of. This was between Lucas and myself. We didn't need her worrying any more than she already was with all of these patients.

As it turned out, this would be a big mistake.

* * *

 **WILLOW'S POV**

The days went on by.

And yet, I couldn't get the thought of what Dr. Howler had told me out of my head. After talking with Konstantin in the bathroom, Lucas had appeared extremely pale. I didn't know what this was, and she didn't either. However, she had told Ian and myself to keep a close eye on Lucas from here on out.

Of course, that would come naturally for me, considering that I really did love Lucas. And as for Ian, well...he was opening up to us a little more. He'd told us that he was originally from San Diego, but we didn't know too much else about him thus far. Even so, I was warming up to the guy.

In any case...yeah, that worried me to no small degree. At the same time, there were still other things to be occupied with. I couldn't spend all of my time worrying about Lucas, or else I would never get things done. Right now, we were working on helping in the war against the Anglars, however that could be accomplished.

Eventually, we reached Valentine's Day. I'd never been one to celebrate the holiday too much, but then again, I had never been in a serious relationship before, at least not a romantic one. I knew that what I was feeling with Lucas was real. And there was another good thing today as well.

To celebrate the holiday, all of our morning obligations were cancelled. At least, for those of us who slept in room 1652791. Asking around, I found out that there was a room in the basement that had a music player.

This made me happy. I wanted to do some more dancing with Lucas, have another date. I wasn't willing to admit it to myself, but over the course of everything that had happened my bond with him had seemed to become less substantial, less _important_ to my life. I wanted to keep this thing going.

* * *

Lucas met me in the hallway after breakfast.

"You want to go to this dance room?" he asked me.

"It's not really a _dance room,_ per se, but it's a place that we _can_ dance. At least, they have a music player there. It's going to work, I think".

"You _think"_.

"Why do you have to be so cynical all of a sudden?" I asked him, trying not to raise my voice.

I didn't want this to devolve into our second major argument as a couple. The first one had been as a result of Lucas going on his mission to defuse the bomb. Considering that I'd seen him one morning completely healthy, at least physically (I questioned Lucas's sanity for his decision), and the next day I'd seen him unconscious, severely hypothermic, and hooked up to an IV, I felt justified in this.

"I didn't mean to be" Lucas said.

I put my hand on his back. "It's okay. Besides, I have an idea of a perfect song that we could play to our dancing. Let's just hope that Cole doesn't catch us this time".

"Can I choose this time?" my boyfriend asked me.

Sighing, I said, "Of course. What do you have in mind?"

He didn't hesitate. "I want you to play 'Afraid Of Heights' by Billy Talent. Are you willing to?"

"Yeah" I said.

I went on over to the music player. After fiddling with it a bit, I was able to get to their Billy Talent playlist. Looking through the list of songs, I got it near the top in alphabetical order. I hit "PLAY", and let the song begin to unfold.

* * *

As soon as the first instrumentals began, I grabbed Lucas's hands

I really hoped that Lucas picking this song did not turn out to be prophetic. I wasn't planning on ending this relationship anytime soon. It was another of those songs where the instrumentals sounded happy, but the lyrics did _not._ It sounded like some deeply inspirational song, which I supposed that it might be for some people. For me, however, I was just hoping, again, that it didn't predict the future.

Given that we had just left a flight academy for another one, I got why Lucas chose this song. In this case, it held a very literal meaning for us, although it's probably metaphorical. I felt a renewed sense of commitment right now, like Lucas really _would_ follow me to the end of time. I really hoped that this meant he would have my back no matter what.

And yet, as we held each other, I knew that we were still trying with this relationship, and were indeed not going to stop trying at any point in the near future. As for conquering the stars beyond this world, we were kind of already doing that, with everything that we were doing in the Lylat System. Who knew where else we would go during the course of this war, really?

 _This isn't going to end,_ I thought. _If it does, it won't be from me saying the words. It'll be from_ Lucas _doing it._

"We are **not** watching the final chapter close, Lucas!" I said, pumping my free fist in the air.

"Who said we were?" Lucas asked me.

I paused. I didn't know that Lucas would have thought that. I'd assumed that he was playing this in order to say that he was not happy in this relationship, but I might have been wrong.

All I knew was, I sure as hell **hoped** I was wrong.

* * *

The next day, I woke up still reeling from the events of the previous day. It really had been such a nice dance that I had had with Lucas. It had been a good time.

And yet...there were some things that did not seem to be going my way. For instance, Lucas still would not tell me what was going on. I trusted him, and yet this was one thing he was keeping from me. At least, that was what all of the signs pointed towards.

After getting tattooed with our normal schedule, I found out that I would have Arwing Flight with Krystal again. This was something I was looking forward to. The Great Fox had a fleet of four Arwings, which they used occasionally to do things like combat on the different planets of the Lylat System. I knew that, eventually, we would have to become combat pilots if we had any chance at defeating the Anglar forces.

Breakfast was not a subdued affair in the least. We had a lot of involved conversations about our schedules, but Lucas was still being evasive when I asked him what was up. If I was correct, Konstantin was the only other person who knew, and Ian, Cole, Will, Mike, and myself were being kept in the dark, as well as the three adults with us. Granted, Konstantin, at 19, was practically an adult already, but I'm digressing.

Once that was over, I headed in the direction of where Krystal was. Even after more than a week here, the underground tunnels could be quite confusing, so I was very glad to have the GPS system. Using that, I was able to find the way once again.

"Hello, cadets" Krystal said in her usual sweet voice. Luckily, it wasn't "sweet" in the way that Dolores Umbridge's was. It was more genuine, without malice. "Today, you are going to learn how to actually _fly_ an Arwing. We're going to go outside to do this, so be sure to wear very warm clothes".

I hadn't brought my coat there. That was a big mistake. At least, I thought it was...until Krystal saved all of us.

"Don't worry, I've got plenty of winter jackets here" she said, opening up a closet. There was a wide selection indeed of ski jackets, parkas, and other warm clothing in various colors.

"Pick a blue one, just so I know that we're all together" Krystal said. Reluctantly, I skipped over my favorite color (gamboge, #E49B0F), in favor of a navy blue parka.

"All right" Krystal said. "Let's get this done!"

* * *

Krystal opened a door and let us all outside. Then, she got into the Arwing and flew it outside, meeting us about fifty yards from the edge of a cliff that went down thirty feet or so.

"Here's a few things you need to remember, cadets" she said. "First, remember not to clip one of your wings, because wings are made to fly. If you lose a wing, you lose a significant amount of control. If you lose your other wing, you're probably going to just go straight down. Keep that in mind".

"Next", Krystal said, "you have a supply of five smart bombs in there. Make sure not to detonate it on the ground here, as that can very easily cause avalanches, like the one on Corneria last month".

 _You don't need to remind me,_ I thought.

"Finally, just be safe, because we only have one Arwing here.

"You're going to fly about a thousand feet into the air and then loop back to the ground. The ring that has been placed up there is going to be your target. The Arwing is also in STUDENT MODE, meaning that it will tell you what to do. Who is willing to go first?"

Looking up at the red ring hanging one thousand feet above the icy ground, I was a little nervous. However, there was one thing I knew.

I wanted to get this over with as soon as possible.

"I will" I said.

Krystal beamed. "Excellent! Willow Foster! Please take your spot in the cockpit of the Arwing".

* * *

Krystal helped me with the harness, which was not dissimilar from the ones in the flight simulators. Once that was securely fastened, she closed the metal door and left me on my own.

Back in Maine, I had begun my driving lessons before getting taken into this alternate dimension. I wasn't an expert by any means, but I knew at least how to _start_ a car. I could assume that the stick on the Arwing's controls did the same thing.

Luckily, I was right. I got the thing into high gear and began to soar above the icy ground.

"Use the wheel to go higher or lower!" said a robotic voice from the controls. I started to push the wheel up, but went down instead. _Of course,_ I was supposed to do it like a regular airplane, where to go up you push the wheel **down.**

So that's what I did, and continued ascending until I neared the red ring. Using my intuition, I shifted the wheel to the left in order to turn right and go through the ring.

Now, all that I needed to do was to stick the landing. Easing down on the wheel as I approached the ground, I braced myself for the impact.

Luckily, it wasn't too hard. I had landed it successfully.

The rest of the class cheered, and I cheered silently in my head. I was proud of myself. I had done this right.

* * *

Later that night, however, I was far less cheery. I lay in bed, thinking about when Lucas had had that private conversation with Konstantin in the bathroom.

A simple "bro convo" between the two of them would have been one thing, and probably more acceptable in my eyes. Now, though, I felt like they had something to hide. Something that might _terrify_ me if I knew what it was.

Well, this in itself terrified me. I had no idea what they might be hiding, but I could guess that it was nothing good. As to exactly what it was...well, only time would tell.

* * *

 **LUCAS'S POV**

On the morning of February 16, I woke up, wondering why I was feeling so dismayed about things. Then, I remembered what Konstantin had told me next week. Apparently, today was the most likely day, if it was going to happen, that I was going to be shot by Wolf O'Donnell. I would need to be on guard no matter what, because I really did want to survive the next few days.

Today's schedule tattoo told me that I was going to have Potions today. I didn't know what we were going to make there. In fact, I had never had Potions before, but if what Cole had told me was to be trusted, it was going to be pretty funny just because of the names of some of the roots. Apparently, it was kind of like Potions class at Hogwarts, which made me wish that Harry Potter was real.

In the Harry Potter books, Potions is mostly portrayed negatively, but that's really because Severus Snape, a man who is quite vitriolic towards Harry and Ron, is the one who teaches it. Other than that, I always figured that it would be one of those things I really enjoyed. Ever since I was little, I had always enjoyed using various grocery items to make weird concoctions, but one time got in trouble for it because a babysitter asked me if there was a raw egg in there, and I admitted that there was.

In any case, that was what we were going to do today. Or rather, what _I_ was going to do, since nobody else had Potions with me today. After asking around at breakfast, that was the conclusion I ultimately came to.

I walked into the Potions room, which a dog named Mr. Ruff was teaching. Apparently, Mr. Ruff could be strict at times, so I had to be careful not to cross him as much as possible. Looking at his face, I could tell that I was going to be walking on eggshells with him from the very beginning.

"All right, class. Today, we are going to make a potion for healing laser wounds. It can be dabbed onto the wound or injected, although the latter is probably preferable, because if it is dabbed, it causes severe stinging and is known for being extremely painful. It's pretty simple, and thus there are only six lines of instructions needed".

Mr. Ruff clicked on a remote that he had produced from his pocket, and the instructions appeared on his board.

"You have an hour for this one, so don't mess around. Go!"

I had all of the necessary materials in front of me. Looking at the first line of instructions, I read the following:

 **1\. Place the sacul roots in the bowl.**

Well, Cole hadn't been kidding. It took a lot for me to suppress the giggle that threatened to cause my face to explode. "Sacul" was my first name spelled backwards. It was really quite amusing.

I placed the purple roots into the bowl and looked at the next line of instructions.

 **2\. Squeeze the nai peppers, but be careful not to get the juice in your eye. Make sure that as much of the juice as possible gets into the bowl. If you do it right, your potion should be blue.**

The nai peppers were small and yellow, and it made my eyes water just to look at them. I didn't even want to think about what they _tasted_ like. Sure enough, the potion turned a cerulean color once I was done placing the juice in. Again, color theory did not seem to apply here.

The rest of the potion wasn't too difficult to make, but I was doing my absolute hardest to get it as close to perfect as possible. Subconsciously, I almost felt like the reason for this was because if I got shot with a laser I was going to need it. Then again, Konstantin had probably just had a bad dream. It would not surprise me if he had been having nightmares every single night for the last two weeks.

 **6\. Place the wolliw beans in the potion and allow it to turn pink.**

It wasn't difficult to see which beans would be named after my girlfriend. They were almost a blonde color, kind of blue, and it was just too complicated to put into words, the color was. One thing was for certain: Even though pink wasn't my favorite color, far from it, the potion was still beautiful. In fact, I worried that it might be a love potion. Even now, I could picture Willow's ocean blue eyes and blonde hair, and the feel of her soft, silky skin against my rougher skin, tainted from excessive washing.

I was in love with Willow Foster. There was no way around it.

* * *

It was later, when I was walking to lunch, that it started to happen.

I heard what sounded like a blaster going off behind me. Picking up the pace, I started running. I was no longer focused on the cafeteria, just getting _away_ from the shooter. I did not want to die today. Not when I still had so much life to live, so much to do to help with the war effort.

What if I told you that a song started playing at that very moment? Not just any song, but a song about a school shooting.

I looked back just in time to see an African-American boy get shot with a laser. To my horror, it was William Wexford, and there was no doubt in my mind that he was dead. After all, he had been shot **right through the heart.**

 _Konstantin's dream must have been right,_ I thought. _And they don't care how many people they have to go through to get to me._

That only galvanized me to keep running, as more lines of the song continued being played, from where I didn't know.

The shooter fired another laser, which just barely missed me. I had no idea who the shooter was, except...could it be?

 _I sure as hell hope not,_ I thought. I continued running in a zigzag pattern, which was what they always said to do in order to make it harder for your predator to hit you, and decreased the chances that a vital organ would be hit.

Throughout the rest of the song, I managed to avoid getting shot by the laser. And it's not the world's shortest song, either. There were still four more verses to go, so I hope you'll all give me props for that.

After the song ended, however, my luck finally ran out.

* * *

I tripped over something. My long, long legs must have gotten caught on the body of Michael Kirk, as I confirmed. He was fallen, too.

I didn't even have time to grieve for my friends. Someone turned my neck, and I found myself staring directly into the face of Wolf O'Donnell. Just like Konstantin had told me, he'd turned as well. This was not good news.

He was the shooter. And he still had his blaster, and he was going to get me right in the heart. _Cut off the head of the snake._

Before I could scream for help (because I could think of nothing better to do), Wolf grabbed me and swung his gun into my head. I tried to stay upright, but my vision was darkening. The pain caused was pretty horrible as well, which only helped to lead me into unconsciousness faster.

* * *

The next thing I remember, I was waking up. Still in the underground base, evidently, since I was surrounded by white walls, but a different room.

And it was definitely a _room,_ not a hallway. It was thirty feet by thirty feet, with a ceiling of about nine feet.

My head hurt where I'd been struck, but I didn't think that my skull was cracked. In other words, I was not imminently going to die thanks to my current wounds.

"Hello, Lucas" Wolf sneered at me.

"What do you want?" I snapped. I tried to get up and realized that I was tied to a chair. _Great._

This was genius on his part. I wouldn't be able to get up without injuring myself further. And Wolf still had his blaster, and he would be able to fire at will. One hit at a vital organ and I would be dead.

"I just wanted you to say hello to my little friend here".

Wolf's little _friend_ was a three-inch blade that would be very deadly indeed if it was plunged into the heart. Before I could protest, he went up to my right arm (I am right-handed), and sliced into it. Slashing around, blood spurted all over his coat, which would have been funny had the source not been my arm.

I couldn't resist. I began to howl in pain, like a wolf that had been hurt or abandoned. My arm was stinging like crazy, and I knew that in the best of circumstances I wouldn't be able to use that arm very well for a while.

These clearly were not the best of circumstances. Because Wolf still had his blaster. He leveled it, preparing to shoot me in the heart.

In the last moments, I thrashed around, doing everything possible to dodge the bullet. In doing so, I tipped the chair over and the laser, which had already been fired, struck me right through the leg.

Blood came out, but I was immune to the pain. I tried to stay conscious and fight, but the darkness encroaching upon my vision once again was just impossible to resist. The more I tried to, the worse it became.

I closed my eyes and thought no more.

* * *

 **COLE'S POV**

I was walking down the hallway with Dr. Howler and Konstantin. Konstantin had the same activity as me, Arwing Flight, while Dr. Howler was heading back to the hospital in order to fulfill her duties. Little did she know, her next patient was going to be someone she knew very well.

Suddenly, what sounded like a gunshot rang out. We hadn't heard any before that, but it seemed to be from behind a large white door on the side of the hallway.

"What was _that_?" I asked.

Dr. Howler looked at me seriously. "It's going to be someone shot. If they're not dead, I need to get to them. Let's get through that door, and see if it's someone who can still be saved".

"But that's suicide!" I shouted. "The killer is in there!"

"I'm a doctor _and_ a paramedic" the Bengal tiger said. "It's my job to do things like this".

Before I could protest, she pulled on the door.

"Just like I suspected. It's locked".

"Could we bang it down?" I asked her.

Before we could even try, the door opened from the inside. We were looking right into the face of Wolf O'Donnell.

* * *

I'd always hated the guy, ever since he had manipulated the jury into voting for Konstantin to be found guilty and executed. Even before then, his position as the leader of Hand-To-Hand Combat at the flight academy was not something that made me like him more. And that is a little weird, because you would think that as a former juvenile delinquent I would appreciate this, but that's not the case.

"Come in" Wolf sneered, his tone of voice suggesting that we did _not_ want to see what was inside that room.

Even so, my curiosity got the better of me. Flanked by Dr. Howler, we entered the room.

A chair was tipped over, and an unconscious teenage boy was tied to it. A very large amount of blood was oozing from a wound on his leg, and there was also one on his arm. He had long, fluffy hair for a male, and his face was that slightly yellow shade of tan that I had come to associate with Lucas Enfield.

Meaning that it was, indeed, Lucas Enfield.

"What happened to him?" I gasped.

"He's been shot" said Dr. Howler, clearly shocked at just how much blood was there.

"Yes, and I'll shoot you too!" Wolf shouted, pointing the blaster at the Bengal tiger.

"Oh, no you _don't_!" Dr. Howler snapped, grabbing Wolf by the arm and around the back.

Wolf was pointing his blaster at me now, but I was agile enough to avoid it, my reflexes honed from years of criminal activity. I'd spent a lot of time running away from angry people whom I had stolen from, so I was able to avoid being shot.

Wolf tried once again to shoot me, but I was ready. I lunged at him, managing to snatch the gun out of his hands.

Now _he_ was on the defensive. He tried to make another lunge at me, but I managed to get out of the way. Staggering backwards, I pulled the trigger. I'd never shot a gun before, but I could imagine how it was done.

Sure enough, I was correct. A green laser came out and hit Wolf in the leg, near where Lucas had apparently been shot. Wolf collapsed unconscious, right beside Lucas.

With the threat gone, Dr. Howler rushed to Lucas's side.

"How is he?" I asked.

She frowned. "It's not good, Cole. Good on you for shooting Wolf, though. He seems to have stabbed Lucas in the arm and shot him in the leg. We'll need to get him into surgery right away to see what damage has been caused".

Then, she said, "Watch over Lucas until I get back, okay?"

I agreed to, but there really wasn't too much to watch. Lucas was still unconscious, and he remained so the entire time I was watching over him. Instead, I was confronted by my jumbled thoughts.

In books, you often hear about characters who feel very guilty, somehow _changed,_ from the act of shooting someone. I did not. In fact, I felt like the same Cole McCallen as I had been before. There was a big difference, though. I felt guilty for not feeling guilty, if that makes any sense.

 _Oh boy._ That was a really crazy thing to think about. If I felt guilty for not feeling guilty, then I _was_ feeling guilty. Or...never mind. All I knew was one thing:

I really hoped Lucas didn't die.

* * *

 **KONSTANTIN'S POV**

I had stayed outside the door the whole time, not wanting to face my nemesis Wolf O'Donnell. If I had been able to, I would have _personally_ ripped his heart out with my bare hands. But I saw that in this case, he had all of the power, and I didn't want to die. I'd come close enough already in that cell, thank you very much.

Beyond that, however, I was pretty mad at myself.

I should have taken more action. Yes, I had told Lucas that he was being targeted by Wolf. However, I really could have pushed it more, although what could he have done to avoid being shot? He'd been locked into a room with Wolf somehow. And there _had_ to be another shooter besides Wolf. There had to be some explanation for why Mike had been killed as well as Will.

All of this only exemplified one key point: These people really seemed to have some beef with Lucas Enfield. They didn't seem to care how many people they had to kill to cut off the head of the snake.

After Cole and Dr. Howler had overpowered Wolf, she had left and come back with a team of medics who lifted Lucas onto a stretcher and carried him away to the medical wing of the base. They were taking him into surgery right away. I could only hope that he would be all right, but there was a lot of blood. Would he even live?

I didn't necessarily see Lucas as the leader of this team, but he definitely helped to hold us all together. If he died, we would have a harder time working together. Why we had rallied behind Lucas in particular, we didn't know. Cole was just as instrumental, really.

In any case, Lucas was in surgery for several hours. Once that was over, Dr. Howler exited the OR, ready to tell us how things had gone.

Ian, Willow, Falco, and Cole had been summoned. Mrs. Hooter was not present. Apparently, she had been killed during the shooting. This meant that three out of the ten of us were now dead, just because of Wolf O'Donnell. And I could have averted it, easily. Well, maybe not _easily,_ but still.

"Lucas is out of surgery now" the Bengal tiger said.

"It was a success. His heart didn't stop beating, but it was scary for some time. We stitched up his leg. The laser had done a lot of muscle damage, but thankfully missed the bones. As for his arm, that was from a knife slash. We stitched it up, but a vein had been severed, so Lucas won't be able to use his right arm for a while. That's why there was so much blood. Speaking of blood, we had to give him two pints of it to replace some of what he had lost. He'll be asleep for the next couple of hours, but you're free to visit for a few minutes if you like".

"I would like to" Willow said. I noticed that she didn't drop the bomb about being his girlfriend and all.

"Me too" said Cole.

"I also want to" Ian replied.

I, however, hesitated. I knew that Lucas was still asleep from the anesthesia and would not remember my visiting him. But what would I have apologized _for_? Not being forceful enough?

Cole opened the door, and we saw just the state our friend was in.

* * *

Lucas Enfield was nearly the same color as the snowy floor, and there were bandages on his leg and shoulder. An IV was taped to his left wrist, pumping fluids into him from the icy pole, and there were any number of machines attached to him. He also had a heart monitor attached, and its beeping created the only noise in the room. I could only imagine how he must have looked before having the blood transfused into him.

He was clearly still unconscious, and he showed no signs of revival from us coming into the room.

Looking at this, I felt even more guilty than I had before. My failure to act boldly enough had resulted in _this._ Lucas had almost gotten killed by Wolf's laser, and now he was likely to be facing a long recovery period. I didn't know how it could possibly get worse than it already was.

We'd lost three members of our team, very valuable ones. And we'd come _this close_ to losing Lucas.

* * *

 **RIP Will, Mike, and Mrs. Hooter**

 **Yes, I'm going to do obituaries in this story as well! The body count wasn't too high in the last one, but here it will be a bit more. But that's enough about that.**

 **Will: Seeing as Wolf's mission was to kill members of Star Enfield, this was technically NOT a hate crime. In any case, I didn't like Will too much. No one sent in a PM for what became him, so he was always a filler character. He didn't have too much character development, which is why my little sister is against fanfiction. In this case, she was kind of right, although for a different reason than she says there is no room for character development. She says that if you use the same universe, this means less room for creativity. In any case...**

 **Mike: The same as Will. A filler character. I feel just the same way about him. Mike was a little nerdy, and I always pictured him as looking similar to another boy in my school. I pictured him as small with glasses, a few months younger than me. And he'll never reach 17 now. Sorry, Mike. You and Will were kind of just...there.**

 **Mrs. Hooter: I LOVED this owl! She was very hilarious, even when she had her bow and arrow on hair-trigger alert, ESPECIALLY when it was on hair-trigger alert. As soon as I noticed that she didn't have much of a part (despite her plan to use the tranquilizer arrows being pivotal in rescuing Konstantin), I realized she had to go. If the character isn't interesting to write anymore, they end up in my firing line. That's how it goes with me.**

 **ONE LAST IMPORTANT THING: I do not own any songs that are sung in any of these stories. The ones from this chapter belong to Billy Talent and Foster the People, respectively.**

 **With that, my longest chapter so far has come to an end. I hope that you all take the time to review and tell me your thoughts, and I will see you for the next update.**

 **Also: In case you're wondering, Ian is 19 in this story.**

 **One last thing: Once I'm done with this story, I've got an idea for a Pokemon fanfiction. It'll be about a pair of teenage siblings. The boy turns into a Growlithe, the girl turns into a Vulpix. It'll take place in an AU with Pokemon in the real world, and if anyone wants to PM me ideas for the siblings, please do so. I'd only work on it during weekends. During the week, I'm going to write Book 3 of the Wing And A Scare trilogy.**

 **P.S. I just finished Chapter 12 yesterday.**

 **SnowLucario out.**


	6. Recovery

**Here is Chapter 6. I have put Labyrinth and Lorax into my Google Docs so that, if the site crashes, I can re-upload them gradually. It might even be more popular the second time. It was SO BORING, but they took me two months to write each, so...yeah. I write using the Doc Manager on the site itself, in case you were wondering.**

 **In other news...I was in a car accident on Tuesday. Neither me nor the other two teenagers I was with suffered any injuries, though, so that's good. Don't worry about me. It's also February vacation starting tomorrow, but I'm going away for the first half to visit my brother in Canada (no, he didn't move there because of Trump). As a result, writing may be slow in coming, but trust me that I will do so as much as I am able. Updates will come as normal.**

 **I also have decided how many chapters the story will have. At the point of writing this author's note, I have written fourteen out of SIXTEEN CHAPTERS. That's right. Just sixteen. But they'll average well over six thousand words each, most likely. They're not short chapters. (P.S. We're finally at 300 views).**

 **As for the question, let's do one from AskReddit again: What is "home" to you?**

 **SnowLucario answers: Well, there is my house for one. It's a nice, comfortable one, and my bedroom has a nautical theme. The carpet is dark blue, and a lobster buoy hangs off the side of my bed. There's a picture of this on my DeviantArt. And then there is also our house in Maine. That's pretty awesome. And, in a way, I kind of consider this site "home" in a way. I've got quite a few friends here.**

 **Disclaimer: I don't own Star Fox. Never have, and most likely never will. If I owned all of the music featured in this story, I'd be richer than our President.**

* * *

 **LUCAS'S POV**

I tried to open my eyes. It was difficult due to the pain in my leg and arm, which almost forced me back into unconsciousness. However, it was a battle that I was determined to win, and with each sliver that my eyes opened, I saw a little more of my surroundings, which were not what one would have expected.

It was deja vu. Much like the time I had woken up in the hospital wing of the flight academy after my near-death episode on the mountain, it came gradually here as well. But I was sure that there was something else at play here. Everything felt kind of hazy...why was that?

Oh, yes. I remembered what had happened now. Wolf O'Donnell...that traitor! I should have suspected that Konstantin had been telling the truth about Wolf and Panther targeting me to be killed. I was an idiot of the highest order.

And I'd been shot, with a laser no less. That had been the last thing I had felt before blacking out. No wonder my leg hurt, because that was where Wolf had shot me. Every day, it seemed, I found another reason to hate the guy. He'd manipulated the jury into voting to convict Konstantin, and now he'd almost killed me.

Looking around, I saw that I was clearly in the hospital wing. All sorts of monitors were attached to me, including an IV in my arm. My leg had been stitched up, with a large white swath of bandages covering it. Although the electrodes prevented me from moving around too much, touching my right shoulder with my hand that didn't have the drip in it revealed that yes, there was a bandage there as well. Besides, I could see it due to having a relatively long neck. That must have been where I'd gotten slashed with the knife.

Right now, there was a severe ache. I could only imagine that without the pain medication that was no doubt coursing through my veins at this very moment, it would have been far worse. Right now, I was just lucky to be alive. I could imagine, easily, many scenarios in which I would have died. That didn't explain **how** I had gotten here, either.

I guessed that I was about to find out, though. My waking up had triggered the heart monitor to beep faster, which summoned a nurse.

The nurse seemed to be some kind of elephant, based on her long ears and tusks. Despite this, she was only slightly taller than a human at maybe 6'1". I'm six foot two, so I was still a little taller than her. Of course, now I was lying down, so maybe not, but...

"Hey, I see you're awake, Mr. Enfield" the nurse said.

I tried to speak. "Wh-".

"Don't worry, Lucas" she said, switching to my first name. "We got you here right on time, and you might be feeling some pain from the lasers and the operation. But, you're going to live. Your friends will be glad that you have come to, because they have been worried that you might not make it. But you did, so I'm going to summon them now. Just sit tight".

Of course, with all of these machines hooked up to me it was difficult to do anything other than sit tight and wait for my friends to come in. I hoped that Konstantin would forgive me for not heeding my advice as much as I should have. I didn't know if he could ever absolve me for my own stupidity. I'd almost gotten myself killed because of it.

* * *

Two minutes later, Dr. Tuskland came back with my friends. Cole, Ian, Willow, Falco, and Konstantin had apparently all been in the waiting room, while Dr. Howler was almost done with her daily shift. She was also summoned.

"Where's Mrs. Hooter?" I asked. My voice sounded surprisingly lucid in spite of everything.

"She was shot" Cole said. "We found her body about fifty yards past the door behind which you were shot. I also got Wolf, but he's not dead. They're treating him in a different room from you, and, rest assured, once he recovers they're going to turn his life into a living hell. But the important thing is that we still have you".

"And Mike and Will", I said, "they're dead, too. I saw them".

I was waiting for one of them to contradict me, but when it didn't happen I lost any hope in the idea that they might be recovering in a different bed. But I couldn't see any other patients in this room. This rendered it almost certain that they were in fact gone.

"They are indeed gone" Falco said. "They were good friends of yours, weren't they?"

I fought back tears at the loss of two of my friends. "I wish I could have gotten to know them more. I'm sorry to say that I focused more on Cole and Willow, but that's just the way things went".

None of the others looked particularly angry at me, which was surprising. I had practically just _admitted_ that I didn't care about Will or Mike too much, which was not true. I really did care about them, but I had just gotten closer with Cole.

Or maybe it had something to do with the fact that I was currently lying in a hospital bed, severely injured from being shot by Wolf O'Donnell, that resulted in them being lenient to me. I had to admit, either way was fine by me. The fact of the matter is, I wasn't feeling up to getting lectured.

"I'm so glad you survived" Konstantin said. "It was my fault. I should have been more forceful in telling you that that's what they were planning. I could have prevented all of this".

"No, you couldn't have" I said. "The way it was going, it's my fault for not listening to you. I could just as easily say that it could have been averted in _that_ way as well".

"Calm down, both of you" Dr. Howler said. "The way it was going, none of us were safe. Cole here managed to neutralize the threat that Wolf posed, but once he's recovered he's going to be sent to a maximum security prison to await trial. I'm sure he'll be found guilty, there's more than enough evidence to convict him for the murders of William Wexford, Michael Kirk, Mrs. Hooter, and the attempted murder of Lucas Enfield".

At this point, there really wasn't much else to say. We had just lost three valuable members of our team. We knew that, when we got back on the Great Fox, there would only be seven of us. It would be a little lonelier on the mother ship for the Star Fox team.

As if able to read my thoughts (or maybe the heart monitor allowed him to), Konstantin said, "According to Wolf, we're the Star Enfield team now. They seem to think that we all rally around you".

"Well, Lucas is a good person to rally around" Dr. Howler said. "But right now, he needs rest. And it's really best if we leave now, so that that can happen".

"That's right" Dr. Tuskland, who had just gotten back into the room, said. "I really think you should go to dinner. And, Lucas, you need to get some sleep. In the morning, I'll teach you how to use the physical therapy robots, get that leg working again. And your arm, too. You're not going to be able to write with it for a week, and your leg wound caused a lot of muscle damage. We had to give you two pints of blood as well. In the morning, we'll see about how much longer you'll have to stay here".

Dr. Howler and the others bade goodbye to me, and then Dr. Tuskland turned off the light.

Despite this, I was still far from sleep. It's hard to get over the fact that you almost died that day at the hands of someone whom you used to think was your friend. It's even harder to accept that two of your closest friends are gone, as well as one of your teachers. Needless to say, Konstantin wasn't the only one who had a bone to pick with Wolf O'Donnell.

It was no easier with all of the monitors I was attached to. I'd only stayed overnight in the hospital twice before. Once I was too young to remember, and the other time was after the failed mission to defuse the bomb. It's not the easiest place to sleep, what with the constant beeping.

Even so, I managed to eventually. And, thankfully, I didn't have any dreams.

* * *

 **WILLOW'S POV**

The following morning after breakfast, all of us had free periods. In fact, so did everyone else. It seemed that all of the "lessons", for lack of a better word, had been cancelled due to the shooting.

Other than the three members of Star Enfield who had died, there were no other known casualties, which surprised me. I would have thought that they would have gone through as many people as they needed to, which would surely have been more than just three. Of course, I was glad that it hadn't been worse than that. Lucas was still alive.

I would have wanted to speak to him in privacy, in order to talk about our relationship. However, that was not going to happen. Lucas was still in the hospital wing, and there was almost always a doctor near him. There was no such thing as privacy in an intensive care room. That would have to wait until he had recovered sufficiently to be taken off all the monitors.

However, we did hold a meeting beside his bed. This was pretty informal, but all seven of us were there, including Lucas. My boyfriend was looking a little better this morning. Some color had returned to his face, and it was getting closer to the slightly yellow shade of peach that his skin normally was. The doctors had refused to take his IV out, so he was still wearing it. He also still had the heart monitor attached, but apparently it was going to be taken off soon.

"So...how was last night? I'm kind of out of the loop right now" he said.

"The whole place is kind of...subdued, for lack of a better word" Cole said. "Everyone's still mourning our friends, and they're on high alert. Your room is being guarded around the clock".

"Yeah" Konstantin said. "I told them about my dream. It's not like that's a secret. Right now, Lucas probably couldn't handle another laser. Those things are deadlier than you think".

"That's right" Dr. Howler said. "And plus, one thing that was clearly demonstrated yesterday is that we're not safe here. I don't know if we ever were. I mean, _three_ of our own have died. That's not nothing".

"We're going to leave?" Ian asked nervously.

Even though he was now unmasked, the kid barely spoke. He seemed to be very shy, but taking off his gas mask had clearly done him some good in terms of overcoming his shyness. Even saying these few words must have been a good thing for him, because every time he talked, he seemed more confident.

"Yeah, we're jetting out of here as soon as Dr. Tuskland deems Lucas healthy enough to do so. Then, we're going to set course for Sector X".

"Sector X, huh?" Lucas asked. "I've heard a lot of bad things about that place. Isn't that where Spyborg thwarted the team's attempts to get to the real Andross in the first Lylat War?"

"Yeah" Falco said. "I try not to think about that. But really, Slippy can be such a headache! I'm glad he's not around right now".

Back when we'd gotten Konstantin away from that dark prison cell, Slippy had been one of the faculty members we had had to evade. Where he was now, nobody knew, although he was most likely still on Corneria, still teaching. If there was a galactic manhunt for Konstantin, however, that was only going to mean trouble for us. We were really just trying to survive while doing the best we could to help with defeating the Anglars.

"So when can Lucas leave the hospital wing?" I asked.

Dr. Tuskland frowned. "I'd like him to stay for another 36 hours, just for observation, just to be safe. The truth of the matter is, I don't know if he can handle interstellar travel".

"We have excellent medical facilities on board the Great Fox" Dr. Howler said. "Just about anything he needs, we can provide. If we need to restart his heart, we can do that. If we need to-".

"I get the point" the elephant said. "But right now, I think he needs some rest here. I'd also like to see him get a little exercise today, so he can recover faster. Nothing too strenuous, but enough to make sure he can recover. Are you okay with that, Tigre?"

"Please call me Howler, not Tigre" Dr. Howler said. "But, yeah, I'm fine with waiting until tomorrow night to lift into the sky. This room will continue to remain guarded 24/7, correct?"

"I'll make sure that is the case" Dr. Tuskland responded with. "And he'll be well taken care of here, too. Why are you going to Sector X?"

"There's evidence that there are Anglar forces we can fight there" Falco said. "We have enough supplies, and we can _easily_ take some of them down".

"And then where? You have to have a plan, don't you?"

"Perhaps Macbeth, or Sector Z" Falco replied.

"Macbeth would be complete and utter foolishness" Dr. Tuskland responded. "That's the enemy base, and it's too well defended. Although if you _did_ manage to take it, that would definitely help to turn the tides of the war in your favor".

"Right now, Sector X sounds good" Lucas said. "I could fight tons of Anglars right now".

"No, you won't" Dr. Howler said sternly. "For crying out loud, Lucas Enfield, you are **very weak** right now. You're not going to fly an Arwing for at least another week or two. You can't even write with your dominant hand yet!"

"That's true" Lucas said, sinking back into bed.

"I think it's time for you guys to leave" Dr. Tuskland said. "Lucas needs to get a little exercise, and then he needs to rest a little more to heal his wounds. You are okay with that, aren't you?"

"Yeah" I said.

On my way out, I blew a kiss to Lucas. However, it was so subtle that I would have been surprised if anybody noticed it. I tried to keep it as small as possible for that very reason. Dr. Tuskland wasn't aware of our relationship yet, and I saw no reason for her to be.

* * *

 **LUCAS'S POV**

"Okay, Lucas, I think you need to get a little bit of exercise. I want to take your IV out, as well as all of the monitors. Then, you can take a little walk around the room. Nothing huge, I just want to make sure you're able to move. Can you do that?"

"I'll try" I said.

It had been two hours since they had left, and I was told that lunch would be soon. I was getting pretty hungry, considering that I had not eaten anything since before being shot.

First, Dr. Tuskland made sure that all of my stats were within a decent range. Then, she took off the electrodes and removed the IV. Then, she told me to walk a lap around the room.

I decided to test my leg. It hurt like hell, but it could still support my weight if I tried. Using this, I was able to hobble around the room.

"You might need to use crutches for a time. Luckily, they have those on the Great Fox too, or else I might not let you leave here that soon".

I laughed at that, but she seemed to be serious.

* * *

Later that night, I lay awake looking at the ceiling. I knew that there was going to be plenty of unpredictability in what was going on, even more so than there had been previously. The Grey Clouds Flight Academy had been one surprise after another. Who knew what was going to happen, now that we were leaving our second home?

Granted, I was unlikely to have too many positive memories of this place. There was the whole thing about how we had had to sleep on beds made of ice, although that was a relatively minor issue. Far worse was the fact that I had gotten shot by Wolf O'Donnell, someone we had thought, for quite a while, was on our side. That had turned out not to be the case.

Even so, I was amazed at what lay ahead. There were fifteen planets and sectors in the main Lylat System, and we had only visited three of them. If they were anything like how they were portrayed in Star Fox 64, I knew that I didn't want to go to Zoness, but I didn't know if there would be any other option. One way or another, we'd have to take over the majority of the other planets, then flip things on the Anglar forces. It sounded difficult, but very few things worth doing are easy.

Sector X was coming next. Tomorrow night, we were going to set course for the zone with a lot of debris floating around. It might not have been _quite_ as crazy as Sector Z in terms of that, but it was still not safe to navigate. At least, that was what Falco had told us during this morning's meeting, and I trusted his judgment. So many things had changed in the last two months.

* * *

 **COLE'S POV**

The following night, the second since our meeting, Lucas was released from the hospital wing. Because of this, we were now able to leave for Sector X, with it being made clear to Lucas that he would still need to take some pain medication and be kept a close eye on by Dr. Howler.

Lucas was looking a lot better than he had two days ago. His IV had been taken out, but he was told to use crutches due to the fact that he was barely able to walk on his right leg.

"I'm ready to go" he said.

Dr. Howler had come in order to make sure that Lucas was able to walk to the Great Fox. It wasn't too long from the hospital wing, so he hadn't had too many problems even _with_ having to use the crutches and all. We went through the tunnels and into the hangar, where the Great Fox was still there, in just the same state as we had left it.

Whatever else you could have said about the army base on Fichina, they had at least taken good care of our ship while we were staying here for eleven days. And they had treated Lucas promptly after being shot. He was going to be all right. However, there was the worry that the base wasn't safe anymore, because Wolf's attack proved that it could be breached.

I knew that Konstantin felt responsible. Personally, however, I put more of the blame on Bernat Homeros, the leader of the base. Had he managed to shore up the base's defenses enough, this would not have happened. Mike and Will would still have been alive, as would Mrs. Hooter. But the rest of us were just lucky to be alive.

It was about nine or ten in the evening. Because of this, Dr. Howler insisted that all of us went to our cabins, particularly Lucas. His was the closest cabin to Dr. Howler's, so she would be able to keep a good eye on him there. The rest of us, however, each had our own cabin now. It was a welcome change after more than a week of having sleeping bags on the floor. Before that, we'd had five weeks of a dorm room with anywhere from four to six boys depending on what part of our stay at the original GCFA it was.

I loved being back in my own bed on the Great Fox. The sleeping accomodations on Fichina had been nice, but there was no getting around the fact that they were made of ice. All of the furs in the Lylat System stacked on top of each other couldn't hide that fact.

Getting to sleep was an uphill battle. On one hand, I was exhausted, and being in my own bed was a very good feeling. On the other hand, I was apprehensive and excited about what might be awaiting us in Sector X. There was no doubt that there was going to be adventure ahead, lots of it. And, despite having played Star Fox 64 before, I wasn't sure what it might look like in real life.

After what must have been an hour or two, I finally managed to close my eyes. Well, technically they already had been closed, but I was able to fall asleep.

* * *

Lucas, often a light sleeper, was the last one to wake the next day. He'd slept for twelve hours as a result of the pain medication that Dr. Howler had prescribed him. Despite this, he seemed somewhat lucid right now.

I knew that the loss of his friends was probably still very fresh in his mind, having been only three days ago. I had in mind something we could do together that, if it didn't necessarily cheer him up, it would at least help him to get the three deaths out of his mind.

After we all ate breakfast, absent one Lucas Enfield, I went over to Dr. Howler and decided to ask her a question.

"Would it be okay if I played Super Smash Bros. with Lucas a little later? Once he wakes up?"

She smiled. "That is okay with me, but there are two things to know. One is that he might not be lucid enough to put up a good fight, and two is that he needs to eat a nutritious breakfast first. But yeah, once he's awake, I'm sure he'd like that".

"Great. Thanks" I said. It's been said before, but you find yourself thanking nurses a lot. Even when you're not their patient.

"To tell you the truth, Cole, I'm a little worried about him. I think that the video game will help distract him from the pain of losing his friends. They were _your_ friends, too, so it might help you as well. But yeah, just let him sleep for now".

Lucas finally got up around 9:30. He had evidently told Dr. Howler that he was feeling all right, except for a slight ache in his leg. After eating some breakfast, he was told that I wanted to play a round of Smash with him.

"I'm all for it!" he'd said.

As a result, he'd taken the lift down to the rec room, which was necessary due to the fact that he still needed to use crutches. Once he was in there, he simply set them to the side and joined me on the couch.

Propping up his injured leg, Lucas accepted the GameCube controller that I handed him, as I had taken one of my own. We both vastly preferred using this controller because we were used to using it for Smash 64 and Melee. We'd been able to get the former on the Virtual Console. Really, considering that we were way out in space, it was amazing that the Great Fox even had Internet access.

"I'm going to be Fox" Lucas said, selecting his character and choosing the red costume.

"I'm playing as you!" I said, laughing.

Indeed, I had selected to play as Lucas from Mother 3. The real-life Lucas barely resembled that character at all, even with his bushy hair. His hair wasn't quite yellow, or even blonde, but had turned darker from our days underground, not being exposed to the sun.

"I could beat your ass any day" Lucas taunted as he selected the stage. "Even now, when I'm hurt. I'm going to **cream** you!"

"Let's see about that" I said.

* * *

Lucas, as Player 1, had gotten to select the first stage. He chose Yoshi's Island.

We both arrived on the stage, and it was clear who had picked the better character. Lucas was able to shoot me with lasers from afar, but my PK Thunder was enough to send him reeling. However, Lucas's superior recovery stacked things a little more in his favor. Using Fire Fox, he was able to get back onstage very well.

Each of us had drained two of the other person's stock by the time Falco came in.

"Hey, Lucas, I see you're out of med bay. How are you feeling?"

"Well enough to be holding my own in this game!" Lucas said. "Besides", he said a little more soberly, "I'm still going to be under the watchful eye of Dr. Howler for several more days. She's worried about me after...you know".

"How could I forget? You almost bled to death! But, can I join you for the next match?"

"Sure" Lucas said to him.

"Who's winning?"

"We're at final stock, and I think I'm going to beat Lucas" I replied.

The way it was going right now, Lucas was at 76% while I was at 40%. It would just take one good Smash attack to get him.

And then, the thing that I was most dreading appeared...the Smash Ball.

Lucas grabbed the Smash Ball, and, after kicking it enough times, Fox began to emit a rainbow glow. As the real-life Lucas pressed the B button, he jumped into the Great Fox and was quickly able to destroy my last stock.

I had to bite back the urge not to utter a few choice words at the victory Lucas had just **stolen** from me. It was very frustrating to be so close to winning, and yet end up so **far away.**

But I couldn't dwell on it for too long. Soon, Falco joined the match as himself, and we had a very good time, even though the avian clearly had some skills.

We were having so much fun, we barely heard Dr. Howler call us to lunch. It seemed that we _could_ manage to enjoy ourselves, even when so much had fallen apart, what with Will and Mike being gone, as well as Mrs. Hooter.

I used to be a juvenile delinquent. Now, however, my heart threatened to explode in grief if I focused on our losses too much.

* * *

 **LUCAS'S POV**

Two days after leaving Fichina, meaning February 21, 201Y, I was having a lazy morning in my own cabin. I'd been let out of med bay a long time ago, but my cabin was the closest to Dr. Howler's, enabling her to check on me whenever she needed to.

I wasn't on the pain medication anymore, either. Whatever was in the IVs I'd been attached to had probably sped up my recovery now. Since it was making me more drowsy, Dr. Howler had been fine with my not taking it anymore.

Now, I was looking out at the empty space that would soon be Sector X. It had taken us this long to get there mainly due to all of the radiation and dust particles that were all over the place. It was going to be a perilous time here for sure.

On top of that, Falco had warned, there would be plenty of enemies lying in wait for us. At some point, people would have to get in the Arwings in order to destroy them. And that person would not be me.

Dr. Howler had told me that she didn't want me to pilot an Arwing having just gotten off of pain medication. That would be far too dangerous. We'd all learned how to pilot an Arwing back on Fichina, but _actually_ doing it in the midst of a combat situation was another thing entirely. And I was just not lucid enough, in her eyes, to do it.

After breakfast, we had all been led to the control room, where Falco was briefing us on our current situation.

"We're heading into Sector X right now. A lot like in Meteo, we will have to have some people shoot down enemies in order for us to get through. Plus, it'll help us defeat some of the Venomian forces, so I say that's a win. Let's just make sure we can survive this" he said.

"Who wants to fly the Arwings through Sector X. I'm looking for two people, and **not Lucas** ".

I was fine with that. For once, I was glad to put the risks on somebody else. Ever since getting shot, no, ever since getting bitten by the Anglar fish-person at the GCFA, I'd taken a very different view. Sometimes, it was better to stand down rather than take more risks.

Although getting shot hadn't been as a result of me taking any unnecessary risks, it had definitely made me more afraid. I couldn't just keep on going recklessly. I'd accepted that I **could** fall, and fall hard. Even now, my leg hurt to walk on, but I was told that I'd only need the crutches for a grand total of a week, so that was a good thing. Even so...for someone like me who usually healed up fast from being sick, this was a lot to take.

"I volunteer as tribute!" Cole said, jerking me back into reality.

"I'll do it" said Konstantin, a little more subdued.

"That's great" Falco replied. "The Arwings are in the hangar, you know the way there. You also know how to pilot them. Good luck!

* * *

 **KONSTANTIN'S POV**

Cole and I ran down the hallway and took the lift down to the hangar bay. There, we hopped into the Arwings and took off into the space sector.

Ever since arriving on Fichina, I'd become a better pilot. I felt like I genuinely had a touch for this, and I was familiar with Sector X from playing the video game. I felt confident that I'd be able to do it. After all, I knew what all of the buttons and levers on the console did. And I knew how to speed forward and brake. This was going to be a cakewalk.

"You ready, Cole?" I asked.

"Let's do this!"

We left, being careful not to bump into each other. We weren't at some amusement park, we were in the middle of a sector filled with space debris. There was a very real chance that we would get ourselves killed if we were not extremely careful.

We wanted to avoid that chance as much as possible.

I veered to the left and began firing at will, making sure that Cole was behind me. I didn't want to hit his Arwing, because if I did that would make this mission a lot harder than it needed to be.

"I'll take this one, Cole. Get the one behind me!" I shouted through my intercom.

I could tell, based on the 360-degree cameras built into the Arwing, that there was indeed an enemy on my tail. I performed a barrel roll to try to evade him, but it wasn't going away.

"Shoot it, McCallen!"

"I'm on it!" Cole said desperately. I heard a sound behind me that clearly betrayed that the enemy tailing me had been destroyed. Safe in that knowledge, I was able to take the enemies in front of us.

Space junk was everywhere in Sector X, and I frequently found myself making many a barrel roll to avoid crashing into something. This was not a safe place to be.

After passing an army-colored wall, I found more Venomian ships in front of us. They were almost certainly affiliated with the Anglars. Otherwise, I could just say that they were in the wrong place at the wrong time. Yes, it was that simple.

I then got a signal that I was receiving a transmission from the Great Fox. I pressed the communications button, hoping for the best.

"We're about halfway through! Keep up the good work!" Dr. Howler shouted through.

"We are going to get this thing done!" Cole said through his speaker.

I, on the other hand, was less optimistic. There were many things spinning in the zero-gravity environment, and I kept making very tight turns. How much longer could I hold it together?

"Look out!" Cole shouted.

I looked in front of me. There was an enemy that slightly resembled a bee right in front of me. It released circles in red, green, and blue, the three colors of the light spectrum. When playing Star Fox 64 for myself, I had dubbed them as "LSD Bees". Really, if you took drugs, this might be something that you could expect to see. Of course, I had never been one to get high, so...there's that.

In any case, it was difficult to hit the LSD Bees. They moved quickly, and not only that, but they were also fairly small targets. Even so, we were eventually able to get through all of them.

The next thing was the greatest threat by far: a series of Anglar ships.

"We'll need to be careful around these!" I said to Cole.

"Don't worry about it".

We were going to lose this fight if we weren't careful, I could tell that much. Cole shot at one of the ships, and it went down. However, the other ships began shooting as well.

"Do a barrel roll!" Cole yelled.

I tried to, but in doing so I accidentally bumped into Cole. Both of our ships went spiraling out of control, and I was glad that we didn't end up falling all the way down to Titania.

In a last-ditch attempt to win this, I fired a smart bomb. It managed to carve through the ranks pretty well, but it didn't completely eliminate the problem.

Cole shot at the others, which helped to give me a pass through. I could tell that we had now succeeded, based on the transmission that we got next.

"Great job, guys!" Dr. Howler said. "Get back to the ship!"

* * *

We managed to land back in the hangar bay of the Great Fox. As soon as I had climbed out of my cockpit, my ship collapsed as if it had been bearing too much weight.

"We can get that fixed" Falco said. "Don't worry about it".

A golden robot came walking in. "THESE TWO ARWINGS ARE READY FOR MAINTENANCE?"

"Yes, ROB 64, they are" Falco said to the robot. ROB 64 went back, carrying the ship like it was a baby. Then, he did the same for the other one.

"I'll see you guys in the dining room" the avian said. "We have a lot of strategy to talk about".

* * *

 **And that is it! This chapter is quite a respectable length, I should think. The crew has defeated the enemies in Sector X, and now we'll see where they are going to be heading next!**


	7. The Warp Zone

**Woke up at 5 AM yesterday and got to work on the last chapter. Yes, I am already on the last chapter of the story.**

 **Here is the seventh chapter. It's a little shorter than usual, but that was the nature of what the plot is demanding at the moment. I'm hoping that you enjoy it anyway. I promise you, the next chapter will be better.**

 **Truth be told, it's a bit of a transition chapter. Yes. That's what it is. And yet I elected to have Ian's POV in here. I figured that since he's becoming such an important character, it was a necessity to have him represented. Now it's like the Heroes Of Olympus!**

 **This is either the shortest or the second-shortest chapter so far. I'm sorry for that, but there really wasn't too much I could have done to make it longer. I think this was an okay length for what it was. My average is still above 5.5K, where I want to keep it.**

 **No question today, so let's just get into the action.**

 **Disclaimer: I don't own Star Fox, just this story and some of the characters in it.**

 **With that in mind, enjoy the chapter!**

* * *

 **WILLOW'S POV**

After Cole and Konstantin managed to safely get back onto the ship, we decided to convene in the dining room for a meeting. It wasn't necessarily an emergency meeting _per se,_ but it was almost definitely going to be an important one. After all, we'd just gotten through much of Sector X.

Where else was there to go that we would be able to thwart the enemy? I supposed that this was the whole point of the meeting.

I walked up to the dining room, and I somehow managed to be the last person there. Everyone else was at the table, including Lucas, despite the fact that he still required crutches to walk. He was looking even better now, and I was amazed at the medical technology that they had in this dimension, able to mend wounds this quickly.

It was still covered in bandages like part of a mummy wrapping. I was amazed that he still had circulation in his leg, it was wrapped so tightly, but he didn't even look uncomfortable.

"Good, you're here" Falco said. "We were just about to talk about some strategy".

"What type of strategy?" I asked, even though I thought I already knew.

"Just what direction we expect the war to take in the future, and what we will do in order to turn the tides in our favor. What do you think of that?"

"I think that this is a good idea, yes. But how will we accomplish this?"

"Let's just get started before we lose everyone" Dr. Howler said.

"I say that's a good idea" Konstantin said, looking energetic.

"Anyway", Falco began, "we just got through most of the enemies in Sector X. However, that's not _all_ there is here. You see, Sector X goes on for quite a while, over a day's worth of travel. And, although it will take some maneuvering to get through, I think that we can make it to the warp zone. What do you guys think?"

"Doesn't the warp zone go to Sector Z?" Lucas said. "I mean, I've played the video game, but isn't _Macbeth_ the planet we should be aiming for? Given that that's their main base of operations?"

"We need more allies" Dr. Howler said. "Right now, we'd get overwhelmed right away against Andross's forces. The best place to get them is...elsewhere".

"Where else? We ran away from Fichina, and Corneria is still hunting for Konstantin" Cole said. "It looks pretty bleak for us right now. What else could we possibly do?"

"It goes to the human world" Falco said. "The Sector X warp zone no longer goes to Sector Z. It goes to Earth".

"Where on Earth?" Lucas asked. "Shanghai? Sydney? Swanville?"

"I don't know for sure" Dr. Howler replied. "What we do know is that it's not safe to stay in Sector X for any longer than we need to. There is far too much debris for it to not end up clipping one of our wings eventually".

"We'll help out in the human world, as much as we can, and then we'll head back to Lylat. The main war is still being fought here".

"Wait" Ian said. "The human world is under attack?"

"As a matter of fact, it is" Falco responded. "Various cities in Asia, Europe, and the Americas are being attacked by Venomian forces. Of course, the humans don't see anything out of the ordinary. They probably just think they're terrorists or something...but _we_ know better".

I frowned. This raised more questions than it answered. If most ordinary humans couldn't see the Anglar forces for what they really were, what made us any different? Why did we get this gift when most other people didn't?

"You can't just fly an Arwing into Amsterdam, for instance, and not get looked at funny" Dr. Howler said. "And then, once we've seen what's going on in the human world, we can go back to fighting the Venomian forces in the Lylat System, because that's where the real action is happening. That's where the war is won or lost, really".

It sounded like a good plan to me. We were already nearly three weeks out from Corneria, and I was getting kind of sick of seeing just empty space, and, during the week and a half we had spent on Fichina, snow and ice for walls. It had been more than two months since we had last seen Earth, and I had to admit that I was looking forward to it.

On the other hand, if what Falco was saying was true (and I had no real reason to suspect that it wasn't), things weren't exactly rainbows and roses there either. If the cities of the human world were under attack, that was indeed not good news for us.

"So...it's February 21 now. How much longer do you think this war is going to last?" Lucas asked Falco.

"I don't know, Lucas. The truth of the matter is, there is no way to know. But we'll try to end it as soon as possible...making sure, of course, that it's _us_ who win. Because I really do think that we have the ethically right side of this conflict. I really do".

I looked over at Konstantin. He'd been pretty weak back when he had been first broken out of his cell, but he had regained most of his lost weight, putting him back in his "slightly overweight" category. He seemed to be fully recovered physically, but I could only imagine how much he was still mentally anguished by the memories of that dark, dank mountain prison. That overcoat of his could only conceal so much.

* * *

Later that day, I decided to visit Lucas in his cabin. He was lying on top of his bed, his injured leg propped up on a pillow. Without pain medication, it had to be hurting like hell, but he barely gave the slightest grimace to suggest that was the case.

"Hey, Lucas" I said.

He looked over at me. Noticing who it was, he reached his arms out like he was hugging an invisible person...which ended up being me. The fact of the matter was, I hadn't been expecting a hug that much, but I was glad for it just the same.

"Good afternoon, Willow. I'm just relaxing. I know that we'll be heading into the warp zone tomorrow, and then back to the human world...can you imagine what that's going to be like?"

The truth was, I couldn't. It would be pretty crazy to end up back where we had come here from. I only hoped that it wouldn't be Swanville that we warped to. I wasn't sure if I could face my parents, or if Lucas could face his, after what they had done by selling us here.

I had never expected to see the human dimension again, fully predicting that we would be consigned to the Lylat System at least for the foreseeable future. I didn't see any reasons to expect otherwise. However, now that we'd learned about the warp, it seemed like a very real possibility. Indeed, it seemed that this would most likely be what happened.

"It'll be pretty interesting. Where do you think we'll end up?"

"No way to tell" Lucas said.

The more I thought about it, the more I realized that it would do no good to speculate about it. There was just no way to know until we got there.

"I'm just glad that you're still here" I said. "First there was the mission during which you were trapped underneath the ice for fifteen hours. Then, there was the shooting. Really, Lucas, you need to stop scaring me".

"Well, that's me" he said. "Wing And A Scare. If they were going to write a Childhood Of Famous Americans book about me, that's what the subtitle would be. Just imagine it. _LUCAS ENFIELD- Wing And A Scare"._

We both had a pretty good laugh about that for a few seconds.

"In all seriousness, though", I said, "you really do scare me sometimes, Lucas. Seeing you in that bed, connected to all of those machines...it really isn't a pleasant feeling, you know?"

"I get it" he said. "But it's not like I could control getting shot. I literally tripped over Mike's dead body on the way to escape, and then I got knocked out by Wolf".

"Still, though, you could've, oh, I don't know, _been more careful?"_

"There wasn't time, Willow! And once you're unconscious, you can't help it when you get tied to a chair like I was and shot in the leg!"

"Well, then tip the chair over so that it's harder for him to hit you!"

"And you think I didn't try that?" he snapped. "I didn't just wake up and decide, 'Oh yeah! I feel like getting shot today and getting two blood transfusions! I feel like getting my girlfriend pissed at me because I couldn't do anything to protect myself!'"

"I'm not pissed at you, I'm just...".

" _Wondering_ why I got shot? Really, is that a hard question to answer? Wolf O'Donnell was running wild around the army base, and I happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time, but also in the right place at the right time to get help. Isn't that satisfactory enough of an explanation for you?"

I couldn't take this anymore. "Look", I said, "I'm going down to the rec room now. You're okay staying right there?"

Lucas sat up straight, but I could tell that it made him wince to do so.

"I'll take that as a yes. See you at dinner".

* * *

 **LUCAS'S POV**

Oh, yes. A great way to spend part of an afternoon. Getting into a fight with my girlfriend over whether or not I could have avoided getting shot.

At dinner that evening, it was awkward. Coming off of a major row between us, even though it had barely even lasted for a minute or two, I could barely even look at her. I mean, what right did she have to question my willingness to not get shot by a laser from Wolf O'Donnell?

Before getting in bed that night, I tried to relax a bit. I tried to tell myself that she was just frustrated in that moment from hearing that the human world was under attack as well as the furry world, and it was not really directed at me. I desperately wanted to believe this. But I just didn't know if it was true.

In any case, I really hoped that I wouldn't have a nightmare. I had heard somewhere that if you were angry before going to bed, you were more likely to have a nightmare. I couldn't remember who or where I had heard or read it from, but it seemed fairly plausible to me.

Of course, it didn't work.

* * *

The second I managed to fall asleep, I ended up in a barren desert landscape. I somehow knew that it was a dream, but I could tell that the air was toxic here. Had I actually been here in person, it would have been better if I had avoided breathing as much as possible.

This led me to the realization that I was on Venom. And that realization made me feel slightly guilty. I should have taken Konstantin more seriously when he claimed to have seen Wolf O'Donnell and Panther Caroso plotting my demise.

But no matter. The thing was, I was here right now, and I could see a large stone structure in front of me. A temple. I felt some kind of beckoning, and my soul, or whatever it was, rose up off the ground and floated towards the entrance. I entered the temple and found myself thirty or so feet off the ground. Since the ceiling was very high, I could have reached my arms up and not come close to touching the ceiling.

Below me was the exact scene that Konstantin had described to me. There was what appeared to be a brain in a jar, which was not something that was necessarily pleasant to witness. And there were two other people standing on the ground.

One of them was a cat whom I recognized as Panther Caroso. The other was Pigma Dengar, known for betraying the original Star Fox team three years before Fox's team came around to destroy Andross. They were both conversing with each other, and I eventually managed to pick up what they were saying.

"Unfortunate that we couldn't actually kill Enfield" Panther said. "I mean, it was so perfect, and we had it...Wolf just had to get Lucas in the heart instead of the leg, and he'd be dead. We'd have completely cut off the head of the snake, and everything would be wonderful now".

"I know" Pigma said. "But we've _got_ to keep trying. Already, we've heard that Wolf has managed to escape".

That shocked me. Bernat Homeros was anything if not thorough. He'd **never** let a traitor like Wolf O'Donnell escape alive. Plus, Wolf was severely injured as well. I'd been unconscious for it, but Cole had told me that he'd shot that asshole. He shouldn't have been able to get away from the army base anytime soon after that.

"At least, from what I heard, Enfield got off a lot worse than Wolf. They both needed to have surgery, but the boy needed a blood transfusion. Intelligence has revealed that they are currently travelling through Sector X".

 _Intelligence? What intelligence? They **fucking know** that we're in Sector X? How do they know that? What does this mean for us? _

**_I've got to warn them!_**

"Right now, the boy's not our top priority. Yes, another laser would probably kill him, or at least be a lot worse based on the fact that he's still recovering from the first one, but we have bigger fish to fry at the moment. Our goal is to slowly attack and take over the human world".

This wasn't too surprising, given that we had already been told earlier that this was what was going on. I could only wonder what their ambitions were with the world.

"With this brain", Pigma said, "we can accomplish this goal. Andross is growing stronger, and it's only a matter of time before he rises again. When that happens, we will be rewarded. We're going to conquer the world!"

"Easy, Pigma" Panther chastised him. "Our victory is not guaranteed yet. It'll take some time for Andross to rise, and we still need to make some inroads on Earth. What cities do you suggest? Paris? Moscow? Beijing?"

"I want Wyoming!" Pigma said.

"Sure. You get Wyoming, and I'll take California. Let's divide up the world based on who's most loyal to Andross and who isn't. We'll remake the human world in our own image".

"But..." Pigma began.

"Spit it out!" Panther exclaimed. "And, just so you know, Wyoming's really just geysers and stuff, so I don't know how strategically valuable it is".

"There's the Yellowstone Supervolcano" Pigma replied. "If we drop a bomb there, we could destroy most of the North American continent. But then I won't get Wyoming..." he said, trailing off.

"So...Beijing, then? That's a pretty big global city, although we could also go for Shanghai".

"Naw, Beijing is good for now. Let's get this thing going!"

They segued into discussing invasion methods, but I didn't really care too much about that. Right now, all I knew was one thing:

I needed to warn my friends.

* * *

The next morning, we all convened for breakfast while I told them about what I'd seen.

Ian nearly choked on a bite of his bagel. "So...you're saying that they're going to try to take Beijing? In the real world?"

"Didn't we already establish that the human world was under attack last night?" Willow said. "Yes, they're going to take Beijing if we don't do something about it. We need to get to the human world!"

"We're nearing the warp now" Falco said. "We're going to send two of you guys out to shoot down the four gates and get through to the warp zone. Then, we'll get past all of the obstacles and enemies there until we reach the human world".

"Can you believe that we're about to go back there?" I asked Willow.

"No, I can't. Can you?"

"Not until I'm there!" Konstantin said. "Personally, I was **born in the U.S.A.,** so I really am looking forward to going back there".

Konstantin was alluding to an event at which he had flipped off the Cornerian flag while singing the Bruce Springsteen song. This had gotten him a detention, as well as put him in the firing line of people to blame for the Anglar army attack the original location of the school.

"I'm not sure where the warp leads, but it might not be anywhere in America" Dr. Howler said. "It could be in the middle of the ocean, for instance".

"It won't be" Falco said. "I don't know where the warp leads, but I _do_ know that it leads to land. The fact remains, however, that we can't tell the Cornerians this".

"Why not?" I asked him.

"I think it has something to do with me" Konstantin answered.

"That's actually correct" the avian replied. "Konstantin, it's Day 21 of you being on the run, and the manhunt has still not stopped. You can't just go back like that, or else you'll get killed on the spot!"

"That's right" Dr. Howler said.

"So it's just us" Willow said miserably. "It's up to us to win the war against the Anglars. No help from the Cornerian government, or anyone else for that matter. And the fate of the Lylat System depends on it".

"I know, right?" Falco said. "But we're about to reach the warp. Let's get you guys in your Arwings; we'll need two people to volunteer for this small mission".

"What are we going to do?" Ian asked.

"Shoot down the warp gates and lead us into the warp zone to the human world" Falco replied. "Weren't you listening?"

"I'm going to do it" the boy formerly known as Seventy-Four said.

I looked at him. Ian had definitely changed from when I'd known him previously. He used to always be wearing a gas mask and never speak. Now, however, he seemed to be very different. He was definitely at least _pretending_ to be brave enough to fly an Arwing and shoot down some gates.

I knew that I was never going to be allowed to fly in my current state. Not when I still had to use crutches. Although, according to Dr. Howler, I'd only need to use them for the next few days. Plus, the pain medication might still need a little time to get out of my system.

"Let me go with him" Willow replied.

I'd never known my girlfriend to be so brave. She hadn't gone with me on the mission to defuse the bomb underneath the glacier. And she'd later gotten mad at me for almost getting myself killed in that avalanche. Now, she was risking her own life.

 _What a hypocrite!_

* * *

 **IAN'S POV**

I don't know why I volunteered to help shoot down the gates and let the Great Fox through. Perhaps I wanted to be useful for once. Or maybe I just wanted to prove myself to these people. Or maybe I just really wanted to help, which was probably the same as the first one.

Probably, it was a combination of those three.

We were led by Falco down to the hangar and buckled ourselves up into the cockpits of Arwings. After being given the all-clear, we lifted up out of the ship.

Sector X was a dangerous area with a lot of space junk lying around. Even so, it wasn't hard to find the warp gates. From living back in California, I'd known this area of the game well, having played through it countless times throughout my childhood.

"Let's shoot it down, Willow!" I shouted into the communication receiver.

The gates turned from gray, to pink, to a darker and darker red before they opened. It took a _lot_ of shots, however, before that was going to happen. Since the game is on rails, this makes it pretty hard to open all of them and enter the warp.

With the help of one of my smart bombs, we managed to hit the first gate enough just in time to pass through it. With that, our ships sped up a little bit.

"Lean on the attack button, Ian!" Willow said.

I was doing so, and it paid off. We managed to get through the second gate, and our speed went from slightly fast to very fast. Now, we were running a high risk at crashing into any of the huge amount of space junk lying around here. We had to be very careful.

I noticed that Falco wasn't giving us any transmissions. Probably he was just making sure that we didn't get distracted from the task at hand, which was still to destroy all of the gates and get into hyperspace by approaching the speed of light, which, at least in the human universe, was the highest speed possible.

We shot down the third gate, after which we reached a speed of no less than twice what we had started with. It was now very difficult to keep my Arwing on course, and I could only assume that Willow was having the same amount of trouble. But there was a light at the end of the tunnel, which was the fact that we only had one gate left.

Nervously putting my finger on the trigger, I shot the gate until it turned from gray, to pink, to scarlet, to crimson.

Before I knew it, we had passed through the gate. I felt a jerking below my backside, and we lifted off into a whole new world.

* * *

It looked kind of like we were underwater, with the sun very distant from us. I could tell that we were going very fast, but I couldn't really _feel_ it anymore. It felt more like driving in a car on the highway. _Maybe_ we were speeding a little, but still.

"Look out for the stone pillars" I cautioned Willow.

There were stone pillars with line designs etched onto them. I didn't know what these designs were, but it wasn't a good idea to crash into them, I could tell that much.

Eventually, there were more formations of _spinning_ pillars. Overall, it wasn't too challenging, even though there were quite a few enemies lying around. It could have been a lot worse, really.

At a certain point, though, there was one in the pattern of what looked like a Chinese fan. It was also spinning, so this one required some maneuvering to get around.

I heard a horrible sound from behind me- the sound of splintering metal.

"What happened?" I asked Willow.

"Clipped a wing!"

"We'll just have to make it to the end of the warp, and then we can have it repaired" I said. "Be more careful next time!"

Willow seemed surprised that I was talking this much. After all, a few weeks ago I had been pretty much dead silent the whole time.

"Let's meet up with the others" she said.

For once, I agreed with her.

* * *

 **It's worth noting that for some of the time I was writing the last part of the chapter, where they enter the warp, I was listening to the warp zone music from Star Fox 64. It's a very eerie track that has a great deal of magic to it. And yes, I DO listen to music while writing. My playlist is on my YouTube channel in case you want to see it. It has over 200 songs on it.**

 **And no, I'm not running out of ideas. I really do like Ian as a character.**

 **I'm still in Canada, where I fully expected to get less writing done. Instead, I got MORE writing done than usual.**


	8. Dale a tu cuerpo alegria Cartagena

**I'M DONE! I finished writing Attack Of The Anglars! All 16 chapters, averaging a little more than six thousand words. I've started a new fanfiction, called "Underworld", so I hope that you will read it. It's a Pokemon story, my second attempt at one. PLEASE don't read my first.**

 **The title for this chapter comes from the lyrics to a popular Spanish dance song, "Macarena". If you were a '90s kid, you've heard it MANY times before. This is the longest chapter yet in the story, so I hope you enjoy it.**

 **This chapter also introduces an OC given to me by Cosmicsafe74. I hope you like him.**

 **The reason I chose Cartagena was because in January my school had a Culture Fair, where we each had to choose a Spanish-speaking city and make a poster about it. That was the city I chose. I'm not meaning to insult Colombians by the way I am portraying the city of Cartagena in this chapter.**

 **Anyway, I'm taking a question from AskReddit today (which was actually about a month ago): What's one unanimously popular food in your country that you absolutely despise?**

 **SnowLucario answers: As I have said, I have a general distaste for Mexican food, although that may be due to my geographical location. That's something I don't plan on changing even as an adult, since I FREAKING LOVE NEW ENGLAND! But yeah, Mexican food. Tacos, burritos, nachos...I put a picture on DeviantArt of nachos we made in my school's Cooking elective. I don't really get nachos, because they're really just tortilla chips with melted cheese on them, and no amount of Super Bowl fever can change that. I'm a sucker for pizza, though, or really anything doughy. I know it's not healthy, but that's just my thing. I also NEVER eat candy.**

* * *

 **LUCAS'S POV**

After traveling through hyperspace for some time, we ended up docking at the edge of what looked almost like the sun from underwater. There was a metallic hangar bay there, which Falco landed the Great Fox on. Willow and Ian got out of their Arwings and met us all in the dining room.

"Sorry for damaging my Arwing" Willow said to Falco.

"It's no problem. We'll just have to repair it, so we won't be able to use it for a day or two. But we've got twelve Arwings. It's not like we don't have any others that we could use while yours is in for repairs" Falco said to her.

"I'm just glad you made it back safely" I told Willow.

"Are we ready to step through the portal to the human world yet?" Dr. Howler asked.

"I think we should suit up first" Konstantin replied. "There are some blasters here, right? We don't know, we could end up in a war zone. Shouldn't we take some stuff, just to be safe?"

"That's probably a good idea" Falco said.

"I second that" Ian said.

Willow and Cole seemed to agree with Falco, Konstantin, and Ian. Dr. Howler also no doubt thought that it was a good plan to bring some supplies just in case.

"Let me get my medical bag, and then I'm golden" the Bengal tiger said.

We all decided to grab a small backpack and put some of our clothes in there, just in case. I didn't know how long we would be staying in the human world for, but it would be good to be prepared for however long it was going to be.

Once we were all back in the dining hall, Falco said, "Okay. Does everyone have what they think they are going to need in the human world? To stay for a couple days? I don't know how easy it will be to get back here".

"What do you mean?" Willow asked him. Man, that girl was asking a lot of questions lately.

"I mean that I don't know what real-world thing this docking bay is anchored to. It's very possible that it'll be a hundred feet off the ground".

"Let's not think about that possibility" Dr. Howler said. "In the medical profession, it's always best to be optimistic whenever the situation warrants it".

I decided to change the subject. "So we're going to find this person? Who's willing to help us in our war efforts? And you **know** this person is trustworthy?"

Falco said, "I have a list of people sorted by city. There are 555 different people, weapons experts mostly, who could help us. Everywhere from Austin to Zurich is represented here, and there's one person in each city helping".

"You're saying that there are spies in the human world" Konstantin said.

"I wouldn't necessarily call them spies, but yes" Falco told him. "They are aware that both worlds exist, and they are willing to help us. So what do you say we go through the portal?"

We were all in favor of it, so Falco pointed us towards the light at the end of the tunnel. "Just go through there, and we'll be in the human world again. It's just like Platform Nine And Three-Quarters".

I got my crutches and swung myself through the portal. It felt a little weird to go through. Not like my whole essence was dissolving, though. It was more like taking a cold bath while lying on your stomach and walking through the floor of the tub, except switched up ninety degrees. That's a weird analogy, but whatever.

Once we went through the portal, we found ourselves back in the human world.

* * *

It was really quite surreal. Granted, the air didn't "feel" any different, but I knew that we were in the human world because...I just did. The area didn't look futuristic or anything.

There was still the question, however, of where exactly in the human world we were. The area below us was all made out of stone, and I registered that we were on top of some type of military fortress. At least, that's what it kind of looked like. I wasn't exactly an expert on medieval architecture.

A long, twisted ramp led down from here, going past what appeared to be a large park dotted with palm trees. A sprawling combination of old buildings and newer office towers and skyscrapers was the landscape. The whole city lay next to the ocean, shimmering in the midday sun.

"Where _are_ we?" Cole asked.

"Only one way to find out" Falco said. "Go down to the tourist office, or find a place with Internet access".

"Or just ask a local" I chimed in.

"Here's the deal" Dr. Howler said. "Lucas still needs to use crutches for the next day or so, so I'll go find a hotel or something with Lucas and Willow. You guys search this fortress for any signs of Venomian forces. You have your blasters, right, guys?"

The other three boys all held up their blasters, showing that they were ready to defend against any enemies that might come for them.

"Are you okay with that, Lucas? Willow?"

We both nodded our approval of the plan.

"Let's go, guys" Falco said. "You find a hotel or somewhere we can get our bearings" he told Dr. Howler.

With that, we both went our separate ways.

* * *

It was very hot out, probably at least in the high eighties if not nineties. To make matters worse, crutches didn't make this much easier. In fact, it was harder going down a hill on them.

This was a big change from Fichina for sure. Within minutes I was drenched in sweat and feeling like I'd just run a mile. Maybe it was just that my muscles had not gotten too much use lately, or maybe it was still because of my wounds. However, we did eventually reach the bottom.

Dr. Howler led us to a nearby tourist shop. For this time of day, it was surprisingly uncrowded. She told me to sit outside and catch my breath, because there would be a lot of walking ahead of us, and it was still very hot out.

Willow and I waited on a bench outside of the tourist store for about five minutes. Dr. Howler came out, carrying a map, three bottles of water, and a map.

"We're in Cartagena, Colombia" the Bengal tiger explained. "It's pretty hot, so make sure you eat well and stay hydrated. I wouldn't drink the tap water here, I've heard it's safe but I don't want to risk it".

"How can you go in there? Isn't it pretty weird to have a walking, talking **tiger** in modern-day Cartagena?" Willow asked the doctor.

"They don't see things the way we do. You only see the _furries,_ or what you humans call furries, once you've been to the Lylat System and back. That's how it's always been".

"Let's go find a hotel" I said.

Dr. Howler hailed a taxi and asked him to take us to the Four Seasons Cartagena. He allowed us to put our backpacks and my crutches in the back of the trunk, and we were off.

* * *

 **COLE'S POV**

We explored the tunnels as much as we could, and we ended up coming up empty.

"I don't think there's anyone in here" Ian said, stating the obvious.

"We've literally been to every single nook and cranny!" Konstantin said.

"At least it's cool down here" I said. "Outside, it's pretty hot. Does anyone know where we are? Somewhere tropical, probably, close to the equator or in the Southern Hemisphere, given that it's February right now".

"I know the entry points for all 555 cities with a double agent. This is Cartagena, the fifth-largest city in Colombia. And this fort, the Castillo San Felipe de Barajas, doesn't seem to have any enemies. If they are indeed in Colombia, they're not in here" Falco said.

"Yeah, we should probably get out of here" Ian said. "I don't know about you guys, but this place gives me the creeps".

We made it out of the tunnels and into the sun. Looking down the hill, we saw a tourist office, from which we could probably call a taxi.

"Let's see where the others are, don't you agree?" Falco asked.

None of us disagreed with that, so Falco, Konstantin, Ian, and myself all headed to the tourist office.

* * *

Falco dialed Dr. Howler's number and hit the call button. It didn't take too long for her to pick up.

"Where are you guys at?" Falco asked.

There was a little more back-and-forth between the two of them, but I could really only hear Falco's side of it. When he was done with his conversation, he turned to the rest of us.

"They've booked three rooms at the Four Seasons Cartagena. They want us to join them there, so let's do that".

We hailed a cab and got in. Luckily, there was a pane of glass separating the driver from us, so if we didn't talk too loudly he might not be able to hear us.

"So who is this man you want us to meet?" I asked. "How are we going to find him?"

"It's a man named Jack Novsky, and he's been in Cartagena ever since his native Poland was overrun by the Venomian forces. He's a weapons expert, and he might help us upgrade our Arwings".

I had to be honest, that sounded like a pretty sweet idea.

"Dr. Howler says that one room is for the three of you boys, one is for Willow and Lucas, and one is for me and her. I want you all to be on your best behavior during our stay there. Do you understand me?"

Asking Cole McCallen to be on his best behavior used to be practically suicidal. Now, I was starting to behave in more ethically correct ways, so I was more willing to do things that were asked of me. But I'd changed over the last two months. The old Cole would never have dug Lucas out of the snow on the Cornerian glacier. He would never have shot Wolf O'Donnell after he had shot Lucas Enfield. Okay, maybe he would have. But still.

* * *

As soon as we arrived at the hotel, Dr. Howler was waiting for us in the lobby.

"How is it going, guys? Did you search the fortress?"

"We did" Falco said. "There was nothing of note to be found there".

The Bengal tiger nodded. By the way she spoke to Falco, you'd be forgiven for thinking that she was falling in love with him. She spoke to him with such a _passion,_ such a _drive._

"Let's get some lunch in the hotel restaurant" she said. "Lucas and Willow already have a table. Then, after lunch, you guys can go hunt for this guy. What's his name again? Jack Novsky?"

"That's right" Konstantin said. "We have no idea on where to find him".

"Actually, that's not true" Falco corrected him. "According to my list, he can often be found at one of the many tejo clubs around the city. Usually, he frequents one specific one".

"So we need to find this weapons expert at a tejo club. What even _is_ tejo?" I asked.

"I guess we'll find out" Lucas replied.

The waitress came over and we ordered our food. While we waited for it, we had a conversation about what we were going to do once this meal was done and it was back to the war effort.

"I won't be of much use to you guys at the moment" Lucas said. "Not with my leg like this".

"About that...I have an idea. I brought what I'd need with me just in case" Dr. Howler said.

She looked at Falco like she was deciding what type of flowers he would like best on his tombstone.

"I say go for it" Falco said. "The sooner his leg is better, the sooner he'll be of use to us. Of course, he's also the de facto leader of this team".

This stunned Lucas, or at least it seemed to. "You consider me the leader?" he asked.

"Well, they're calling us _Star Enfield,_ so yes, that's the conclusion that I think can be drawn from that fact. Do _you_ think of yourself as the leader, if that is indeed the question here?"

"I do" Lucas said. "After all, they said that they wanted to cut off the head of the snake by killing me. It's a good thing that they didn't succeed".

"So..." I said.

"We'll meet this weapons expert at the tejo club he's usually found at. We will hopefully get him to join our team, because things will be so much easier if we can upgrade the Arwings" Dr. Howler explained.

"Oh" Ian said, as if he hadn't gotten it before.

"Let's get this thing done" Falco said. "How about I go with Ian, Cole, and Konstantin to look for this guy? Tigre, you can go to the room with Willow and Lucas, is that a good plan?"

"I'm down with it" the Bengal tiger said. "How about you, Lucas?"

"Well, I can't really walk around the city like this" he said, gesturing to his crutches.

"I'll fix that in the room" Dr. Howler said.

I could see the wheels turning in Lucas's mind. If Dr. Howler had a way to quickly heal him, why hadn't she done it before on Fichina? Or while we were in Sector X? Why did she wait until we were in the human world?

Our food came, and the conversation slowed down. I was grateful for it, honestly. My cheeseburger was pretty awesome, not necessarily at the same seven-star level as the food at the Grey Clouds Flight Academy, but it was quite good.

Any type of food tasted better when you were about to go look for a weapons expert in a major city with dozens of tejo clubs.

* * *

 **LUCAS'S POV**

Dr. Howler had booked three rooms. The other three boys were staying in one of them, Willow and I were in another, and Falco and Dr. Howler were in the third. The rooms were somewhat fancy, just what you would expect from a Four Seasons. On the other hand, however, I was a little angry at Dr. Howler.

If she had such a great way to heal me, why hadn't she used it before? I saw no good reason to withhold it, considering I had been practically an invalid since my surgery six days ago to stitch up my leg.

Plus, I was just sick of being useless. So, when Dr. Howler came into my bedroom (Willow was watching TV in the living room), I practically jumped at the opportunity. Or, I would have jumped, if I could have done so. My leg was still in pretty rough shape.

"Okay, Lucas, I'll lay down the law for you. In this syringe is a medication that will fix your leg practically _instantly._ I can inject you, or I can not do it".

"Why didn't you do it while I was unconscious after getting shot?" I asked.

"Our number one priority was stabilizing you, and there's another problem in that I wanted your consent" she said.

"What is that problem?"

"This injection is **extremely** painful. It's known to bring grown men to their knees. You might even pass out for a little while. Are you willing to take that risk?"

I weighed the pros and cons, which didn't take too long. I knew that I wanted to do whatever possible to heal up as soon as possible, whatever that was.

"Go for it" I said.

Dr. Howler swabbed an area of my leg near my wound. When she seemed satisfied that it was clean enough, the pressed the trigger.

The needle going in wasn't that bad. I've never really been one to be afraid of needles. What came _after_ that was far worse.

I felt like every vein in my leg was on fire. It hurt to move my leg even just a little bit. It hurt to _breathe._ My vision turned orange to white, and then back to orange again. It didn't feel like what you got from working out too hard, it was far worse.

Eventually, the orange faded to black, and I lost consciousness.

* * *

The next thing I knew, I was lying in the bed that I had been sitting on. The covers had been pulled up, and Dr. Howler was sitting on a chair near the desk.

"I'm awake" I said.

The Bengal tiger came over to me. "How are you feeling? I'm sorry that it hurt so much. I could see how much pain you were in".

That was a little embarrassing. "What happened?" I asked.

"You passed out from the pain of the shot. It's only been about ten minutes, and I think you'll be fine. Would you like to see Willow?"

I nodded. My mouth felt oddly dry, so speaking was a bit difficult. But I could tell that my leg didn't hurt nearly as much anymore. Maybe whatever miracle drug Dr. Howler had just shot into my leg worked after all.

Of course, I trusted the doctor's judgment. But I still wondered why she hadn't asked me sooner, because I would _gladly_ have done it then had I known it was an option.

"Can I have some water, Dr. Howler?" I asked her.

"Sure". She went over to the sink and poured me a cup of water.

"I thought you said you didn't want to risk it".

"The people at the hotel swear that it's safe, and they even let me check the filter while you were unconscious. It works perfectly well, so I want you to drink plenty of it".

She made me drink the water, and then she told me to get some rest. "You need sleep to let it work its magic. And it's not magic, it's technology".

I didn't really want to go to sleep, so I waited until Dr. Howler had left to get out my backpack. I turned to a page in a book about U.S. politics and began to read.

* * *

 **IAN'S POV**

I was afraid that we wouldn't be able to find this man. After all, there were probably dozens of tejo clubs in the city of Cartagena, and he could be at any one of them. Granted, we'd been told which ones were probably the most likely, but that didn't change the fact that he might not be there. He might be somewhere else entirely.

"Should we get a taxi?" Cole asked.

Falco looked at his map, on which he had circled the place. "It's only a mile away, and it's only ninety degrees out. I say we should walk it. Dr. Howler has more of the money than me".

I was questioning whether that was a wise travel decision until Konstantin said, "Okay. That's fine by me, God knows I could use a little bit of exercise".

Konstantin was still slightly overweight at this point, having gained back what he had lost in the mountain prison. He was already sweating from the hot sun.

We began walking in the direction of the club. We had been told that Jack Novsky, the weapons expert who was in Cartagena, often liked to play tejo here.

Tejo is the national sport of Colombia, and it's one of the weirdest sports you could imagine. Standing a certain distance away from a clay target, you have to throw a three-pound metal disc at it. The field is filled with explosive, and it makes a large bang when a disc is thrown into it. It's often played in bars like the club we were going to.

It was still very hot, as it was about two in the afternoon. In fact, this was probably the hottest part of the day. Before long, my shirt was soaked in sweat, as well as my face, where I had used to wear my gas mask before unmasking myself during the mission.

 _Why_ had I unmasked myself? That was a question that I still asked myself time and time again.

I suppose that it had something to do with wanting the group to trust me more. If a person is never seen except for wearing a gas mask, you're never going to get to know them. Only by getting to know someone can you honestly say that you trust them.

Beyond that...I'd figure it out later. The fact of the matter was, we had to find this tejo club.

"How do we know we can trust this guy?" I asked Falco.

"I'm not a hundred percent sure that we _can"_ the avian responded. "But rest assured, I am at least 97% sure. The Cornerian government will have had to approve him, and they know how to tell someone who is likely to be a spy from someone who is not likely to be a spy".

That was a satisfactory answer. But I still wondered something.

"What about Konstantin? He's still an escaped criminal in the eyes of the Cornerians" I said. "Will Jack turn him in?"

"Doubtful" Falco said after a pause. "If he sees that he's a part of this team, he's likely to overlook it. And Konstantin **is** going to be given a full pardon if he helps in the war and it's proven that he had nothing to do with the Anglar invasion of the school. We shouldn't be worried about that".

We passed many of the restaurants, shops, and occasionally hotels in the old town of Cartagena. As we walked down the sidewalk, it occurred to me that this was one of the places that I would have been more afraid of with the OCD. In fact, I still was scared of germs and drug dealers. Everything about this place gave off a vibe of uncleanliness that made me uneasy.

I could only hope that the tejo club wasn't too crazy.

* * *

 **JACK'S POV**

 **BANG!**

The target exploded with a sound that resonated all over the club. Practically the whole area shook, but it didn't bother the locals. Being a military veteran, I tended to jump at almost anything, thinking that it might be some kind of attack.

Now that I was in retirement and still on standby for the Cornerians, I was trying to desensitize myself to these noises. I didn't need to constantly be woken up by every little thing. And I found playing tejo to be a good way to do this. It was kind of like therapy for me. It was shocking at first, though, because of everything with the explosions.

It was working, though. I'd been in Cartagena for five weeks, and I was getting calmer and calmer. Ever since my native Poland had been overrun by the Venomian forces, I had been re-assigned to this tropical paradise. Well, not a _paradise._ I'd heard that there was a great deal of crime in this city, and, to make matters worse, the heat was tough to deal with at first.

The reason I was here?

Simple. I was one of the 555 people around the world who had been assigned to a different city, each of which is "attached" to a different human city. The Sector X warp zone is attached to Cartagena, so that was the entrance I was watching over. I'd been told that I was going to be waiting on someone to help, since in the First Lylat War, which had occasionally been fought in the real world, I was a weapons specialist.

But after more than a month of languishing in the sun, it was looking less and less likely that that day would come. And so I threw myself back into the routine of getting up, working out to make sure that my muscles were buff at the ripe old age of 47, and playing tejo at the club. I also found that it improved my hand-eye coordination, so there were more benefits to the game than I had initially thought.

"Nice one, Jack!" one of the locals congratulated me.

They were coming up to pat me on the back, but I politely declined. I still didn't like getting touched by other people, and a bunch of tejo players at the club were no exception.

"Hey, Jack?" one of my teammates said. Andres was a few inches shorter than me (I stood 6 feet, 5 inches tall) and had darker skin. He was generally a nice guy, but he had a serious expression on his face. This wasn't like him.

"What is it?" I asked Andres. "I'm about to throw my next tejo".

"There are...people coming in here that don't belong".

I looked around. There was indeed a group of four people stepping into the club at that very moment. Jaime's Tejo Tavern didn't take kindly to outsiders in general, so it wasn't expected to see new people coming in. They'd allowed me in grudgingly, but I'd become better and better friends with the typical patrons that they were fine with me staying.

One was a boy with greasy black hair on the sides who appeared to be in his mid-teens. There was also a boy about an inch taller than the black-haired one with blonde hair and blue eyes. One was a slightly overweight boy with a DON'T MESS WITH TEXAS cowboy hat and glasses. And the fourth person was Falco Lombardi. I knew enough about Cornerian politics to be aware of that.

And then I remembered. There was some team that I was supposed to follow. It wasn't like me to forget these things, given that I always turned down the alcoholic drinks offered at the club.

 _They're the Star Enfield team, aren't they?_

"Excuse us" the Texas cowboy hat-wearing boy said to me. "Do you know anyone named Jack Novsky? We're looking for him".

I didn't see a reason to lie. "I'm your man".

"Jack?" the blonde boy asked.

"That's right" I said.

"I'm Ian" the blonde boy said. "That's Cole, the Texas guy is Konstantin-".

"Don't call me _The Texas Guy_ " Konstantin said somewhat sternly.

"-and I'm Falco" the avian said unnecessarily.

"You want me to help and join your team?" I asked.

Falco's eyes lit up. "That's what we came for".

"How about we discuss it over a game of tejo?" I said. "Drinks are on me. I'm assuming you're all under eighteen-".

"I'm nineteen" Konstantin said. "Turning twenty on May 13".

"In any case", I said, "I think you guys should remain sober. This is an important transaction here".

* * *

After explaining the rules, I handed the discs to everyone, and we started playing.

"So you'd like me to join your team?" I asked Falco.

"Yeah" the avian said. "It's not just us, too".

"Who else is there?" I asked.

"There's a Bengal tiger named Dr. Howler, Willow Foster, and Lucas Enfield, after whom this team was named".

 **BANG!**

Konstantin had evidently just scored a hit. He was picking this game up fast.

"I have some weapons expertise" I said, scratching my small stubble of what might end up as a beard. "I could help you upgrade your Arwings if you'd like, or even the Great Fox. Is that the ship you're using?"

"Yes" Cole said. "We stole the Great Fox from the flight academy on Corneria and have been using it for the last three weeks, pretty much, except for a little break on Fichina".

"Why should I join you? Explain your current situation, please".

"First off, our school, the Grey Clouds Flight Academy, was attacked by the Venomian forces. Konstantin here was put on trial under suspicion of ordering the attack, which he didn't. He was found guilty and sentenced to death by firing squad. We broke him out, but we're on the run now. Fichina took us in, but we couldn't stay forever".

"I have a feeling this has to do with one of the other three" I said.

"Oh, yes, it does" Ian said. "Lucas got shot by Wolf O'Donnell. He's in the hotel right now, resting. But that's why we decided to leave. We didn't feel safe on Fichina anymore".

"Okay" I said. "That actually does make sense. So you'd like me to go with you?"

"Yes" the four of them said in unison as I threw my disc.

 **BANG!**

"I'll do it. It's been so boring here. Don't get me wrong, tejo is fun and all, but I want to get back to helping with the war effort. So let me buy you guys some drinks, and we'll talk it through".

* * *

 **WILLOW'S POV**

We had a lazy afternoon in the hotel, Lucas and I.

After Dr. Howler had left Lucas's bedroom, I had come in. He was sitting under the covers, reading a book about U.S. politics. I, on the other hand, was unable to enjoy watching TV for too long. It was too boring after a while, and besides, I was just too distracted by so many things. I wondered if the others were meeting Jack Novsky right now, or what they were discussing right now. Were they negotiating things related to weapons? Was Jack killing them right now?

I didn't know, but I did know that I wanted to be with someone that I knew was safe, because he was right next to me.

I got in bed with him and took him into my arms. It was one of those rare romantic moments that was just _perfect._ It was spontaneous, and Dr. Howler wasn't butting in to ruin our fun. We were just...there.

I didn't want to express my doubts right here. I didn't think this would be the right place.

"I'm glad to be in your company, Willow Foster" Lucas said to me.

"I'm glad to be in your company, Lucas Enfield" I echoed.

We hugged some more, much like a stereotypical married couple lying in bed together.

Lucas said, "I like this city. It's pretty awesome. Colombia isn't just drugs and crime, there are some genuinely nice places".

"I'm also a fan of Cartagena. But the thing is, I'm still worried about the others".

"I wouldn't be" he said. "I'm sure that, if Falco thinks Jack is trustworthy, he is. I trust Falco's judgment. Plus, I'm sure that Jack was vetted pretty carefully".

I looked into his face. Ever since Dr. Howler had given him that injection, he no longer seemed to be in pain when I rubbed his leg. We weren't quite in line with each other, and my legs went off the bed. Considering Lucas was much taller than I was, it would have been difficult normally for me to cuddle his legs.

Even so, I could tell that he was still in some pain. Occasionally, he'd grimace and sit up. I didn't protest when that involved sitting on my hand.

"So...what comes next?" he asked. "There's so many other planets in the Lylat System...which ones are we going to try to take, and which ones are we not? It's so confusing, really?"

"I know" I said. "I don't mean for this to sound corny, but...I really like you, Lucas. Is that too cliche?"

"No, it's not cliche" he said. "Not when it's well-deserved", he continued, planting a kiss on my cheek.

That did it. We started hugging like one of those scenes from a romance film. I shifted my position a bit so that our heads were more level. I noticed that, ever since leaving Corneria, Lucas seemed to have gotten dark circles under his eyes. Not from lack of sleep, he'd slept constantly when he was on his pain medication.

Which meant he was stressed out. Of course, we _all_ were. But maybe Lucas felt that with his injury, he was unable to be a true member of the group. And I wanted to make sure he understood that I didn't think that was the case. He wasn't dragging us down. Sometimes, in fact, he was what made my life worth living.

Sometimes, I wished he would just shut up.

* * *

At some point, both of us, or at least myself, must have fallen asleep, because the next thing I remember is Dr. Howler knocking at our door.

I woke with a start. Lucas might have been awake for a little longer than me, or he might never have fallen asleep at all, because he seemed more lucid than I was. He asked, "What is it, Dr. Howler?"

"We're about to join the other four at dinner, so get ready. You don't have to wear anything too fancy, though. It's a pretty budget restaurant, but it's _very_ reputable".

I knew that Lucas, who was deathly afraid of food poisoning, made a big deal about if a restaurant was reputable or not. I decided to wear the same clothes I'd been sleeping in, as did Lucas. Hopefully, this Jack Novsky fellow, if he was with the others, was the only person in Cartagena who could detect the scent of outer space on us.

"Did they find Jack?" I asked.

"Sure did" the Bengal tiger responded.

I nodded as we got in the taxi. After telling the driver how to get to the restaurant, she began to drive us there, and closer to this mysterious Jack fellow.

* * *

 **LUCAS'S POV**

It was about a fifteen-minute drive to the place, which indeed looked a little like a diner in the U.S.A. Walking inside, at least it did have air conditioning. It might have been almost seven in the evening, but it was still in the seventies. I guessed nobody in Cartagena liked snow, or at least very few did.

We were sat at a table with Cole, Ian, Konstantin, Falco, and a man I didn't recognize, but I strongly suspected was Jack. He was a very tall, mostly bald man with a significant amount of beard scruff. His blue eyes looked very severe, and he looked like someone that you wanted to take seriously, because it would be in your best interest not to mess with him.

"You're Jack Novsky?" I asked him.

"Yes, that is my name" the tall man said. "I've met up with the others; now, I'd like you to tell me about yourself. Are you the famous Lucas Enfield?"

"I don't know about _famous,_ but yeah, Lucas Enfield is my name".

"I've heard a lot about you, and you seem to have attracted quite a number of enemies. I heard about how you almost died last week".

"That's true" I said. "I was shot by Wolf O'Donnell. It really wasn't fun".

The waitress came over, and we ordered our drinks. I got a root beer, which is my favorite type of soda. Cole got a Coke, Dr. Howler got water, and Falco got mango juice. As we sipped our drinks, Jack started talking about our plan.

"Our objective is to gradually take over the planets closest to Venom to help us prepare for the frontal assault. I'm a weapons expert, so I will help to upgrade your ships and everything else. When I'm done, it'll be greater than anything the Venomian forces could ever have come up with. We'll take them no problem".

I felt that Jack was being a little too overconfident. It seemed far from guaranteed that we were going to win, at least to myself. _Let's see Jack's master plan!_

"We are first going to want to take Titania. It's not _too_ strategically important, but we can use it as kind of a decoy, to throw them off a little bit. And with that, we can take Zoness, which will give us an approach to Sector Z. If we can take both Titania and Sector Z, that'll help us take Macbeth. The latter is important, because it's the weapons center for the Venomian forces. We'll use those three planets to get through Area 6 and then we'll take the fight to Venom. What do you guys think?"

Personally, I thought it sounded like a pretty good plan. Falco had brought out a map, and we were able to use it to see where we'd be going in order to win this war. It was going to be days, perhaps even weeks, of travel, but we were going to make this work somehow.

"I like this idea" Konstantin said. "I've played enough military video games so that I can tell what is a good plan and what isn't. I think that cornering the planet of Venom is a great way to go along with our plan. What do you think, Ian?"

Ian didn't say anything. Instead, he kept sipping his Shirley Temple. Eventually, when he did come up, he said, "I think this is a great plan. Are we going to go to Titania first?"

"Yeah" Jack said. "Initially, it wasn't that big of a priority, it'll be more of a diversion. But there might be a few of the enemy's resources lying around that we can take control of. Like I've always said, every little bit helps in a war".

Jack pointed to Titania on a map. It's a red planet somewhat resembling Saturn, and it's pretty much all desert. In the First Lylat War, Slippy was shot down there by the boss of Sector X, meaning that the rest of the team had to go down there to save his ass. As a result of this, the team had ultimately failed to destroy the real Andross, meaning that they had had to go out on the mission again in order to see the true ending of the game.

"There's also a warp zone on Titania, but we're not going to use it" Jack said.

"Where does Titania's warp go?" Ian asked, evidently curious.

"I have access to all of this information, but do you _promise_ that you won't tell any of the Venomian forces if you're captured?" he said, his blue eyes looking far more deadly.

"Yes?"

"It goes to Paris, which is another city that is under attack from the Anglars. Again, though, we won't be using it. I forgot to mention, we're going to go for Bolse as well. But the more direct route is Area 6, so again, the defense satellite is just a diversion. There are likely to be battles in just about all of those planets, so that's what I'm here for. That's why I've been hired by Falco to help upgrade your weaponry".

Falco patted Jack on the back. "Let's get this thing going. I, personally, will not rest until there is not a single Venomian unit left. I think we can do this".

"And I do as well" I said.

Our food arrived, and, just like it had during lunch, the conversation slowed down. As I bit into my burger, however, I kept thinking about something other than the food, or even the war.

I was thinking about Willow Foster. No matter how much I could deny, deny, deny, I had to face the truth. I was in _love_ with this girl. We'd been through so much together, and there was still so much left to go through. Beyond that, though, she was the only person from my old life back in Maine that I still had. Not even Cole could say as such.

That didn't mean I was necessarily going to marry her right away. It wasn't like we saw our parents anymore, or we even _wanted_ to, but the fact remained that if I went up to my parents and told them, _Hey, I met this girl, Willow Foster. We've been dating for about two and a half months and I want to marry her,_ they wouldn't be happy about it. They'd probably sit me down in the living room and give me a talk about how people rarely stay with their high school lovers.

I wasn't the most physically attractive person, not by any means. I'm tall, but I'm not very muscular, and my hair is relatively long and it's often not very clean. However, Willow didn't seem to mind that. We worked well together on pretty much everything, and I knew that it would really help to have her by my side in the coming battles. Beyond that, she was just a great person to be around.

Not for the first time, I found myself thinking about the afternoon I'd just spent with her in our hotel room. Now that I thought about it, Dr. Howler might have intruded once we were both asleep, just to make sure that we hadn't both had massive heart attacks for seemingly no reason at all, but I didn't care. This girl was _mine._

We'd cuddled a bit and talked more about Cartagena. Paris was often considered the stereotypically romantic city, but I'd been there, and, to be honest, Cartagena had it beat. It didn't _try_ to be fancy, it was just _real_ in a sense.

It was kind of a metaphor for this whole war. It was going to be a tough go of it, but there was no doubt that there was a neon light at the end of this tunnel.

* * *

 **COLE'S POV**

The next morning, we had to leave Cartagena. Jack promised to stay with us through thick and thin, so I could only hope that he would keep that promise.

Because there were so many of us, we had to hire two cabs to get back to the military fortress. As we were leaving the old town, I thought more about just how beautiful this city was, and how poor parts of it appeared. I was no stranger to poverty, having grown up in Detroit of all places, but this was something else entirely.

Even in spite of that, though, getting to go to Colombia, another part of the human world, was an unforgettable experience. And, with that realization, I had to fight back tears. The truth was, Will and Mike had been dead for a week now. They had never experienced this city (most likely), and now they never would. And I'm not one of those people who believes in a life after death. I think that when you're dead, you're dead, and that's that, other than whatever legacy you may have left behind.

"You doing all right, Cole?" Falco asked me.

Managing not to cry in front of the rest of the group, not wanting to sound like a total wimp, I said, "Yeah. It just really sucks that we're leaving this city so soon. I could stay here for quite a while".

"Well, we can't, so we're leaving right now. Once we get back to the Great Fox, we're going to set course for Titania. Then, you can do whatever you want. You can have your own bed on the Great Fox again".

That in itself wasn't too much of a consolation. I'd slept in a lot of different beds lately. I'd kind of gotten used to living at the GCFA, and then it had gotten attacked. The new school location, as well as Fichina, had been explicitly temporary. But it was always hard to adjust to a new location to stay.

We reached the fortress and waited for the other cab, which had lost us in the traffic. It was only a minute or two off of our pace, though. Then, together, the eight of us scaled the hill to the top, passing all of the palm trees in the park below us.

Once we summited, I looked around for one last glimpse of the city of Cartagena, knowing that there was a very strong possibility that I would never see it, or any other human city, ever again. That just wasn't going to happen. And, as much as I would have liked to stay in the human world, I knew that the Lylat System, whether I liked it or not, was where the war was to be won or lost. It was where our actions would actually have _consequences._

If I wanted a shot at redemption for myself, I had to earn it. That wasn't going to happen if I just stayed here, playing tejo and exploring the walled city, forever. I took those first steps into the caverns, entering the warp zone.

Like it or not, we were back in the Lylat System.

* * *

 **It's a pretty depressing ending for the chapter, but that's how I like to end some of these things. I thought that it worked well given the situation.**

 **Jack's character description was, "A 6'5" man from Poland who will help the team and upgrade their Arwings". I think that this character has a lot of potential.**


	9. Doubts

**All right. Chapter 9. This is a little shorter than I would have liked it, but I'm just going with the outline that I made for myself. Also, my profile has hit 2,500 views!**

 **With this chapter, we get into the 50,000-word mark. Also, we have now crested the halfway point of my story.**

 **I don't know if you guys noticed, but I have started a new Pokemon fic, Underworld. I'm updating it once a week, every Thursday until further notice. You might want to check that one out if you have not already, because it already has 3 reviews as of Saturday morning. It's about twin siblings who turn into Pokemon.**

 **Responses to reviewers (Yes, I will begin to do this).**

 **Cosmicsafe74: Thanks for the compliment! I'd like to know what about it was great.**

 **Zaravan: Yeah, they kind of** _ **are**_ **outcasts. Not Willow so much, but the others could definitely qualify.**

* * *

 **LUCAS'S POV**

After we went through the portal, we were very pleased indeed to see that the Great Fox was still there, exactly as we had left it. We had only been in Cartagena for about a day total, but it was still great to see it intact. That showed that the Venomian forces had not managed to get to it.

The area still looked pretty similar to how it had done before. The entrance to the Castillo San Felipe de Barajas was still visible through a window, but luckily the humans wouldn't be able to see us. I was tempted to ask Falco, or Jack for that matter, why this was, but I decided against it. They were probably going to have quite a few questions of their own for me.

For instance, how I was doing after the shot Dr. Howler had given me. I wasn't sure what was in that needle, but whatever it was had caused my blood to _literally_ boil...and then pretty much completely healed my leg. She'd told me that she'd told Falco about what she had done, and that he had approved. The sooner I was able to stop using crutches, the better.

Now, the crutches were back in the med bay of the Great Fox. Last night, Falco had travelled back to the catacombs to deposit them back there. They were waiting for someone else to have to use them, which they would hopefully never be used again, at least not for a long time.

* * *

Later, I was in my cabin, looking out the window at the warp zone that we were passing back through, when there was a knock at my door. "Come in" I said.

Jack entered. It was still quite a shock to see him on the Great Fox. After losing Mrs. Hooter, Will, and Mike in one fell swoop, I'd never thought that we would ever have more than seven members of our team again. And Jack looked very different from our other two _chaperones,_ for want of a better word. He was a human, for one, but he also looked a lot stricter.

I mean, Dr. Howler kind of had to be strict, since she was our physician, but Jack looked a lot more like a military guy. After all, he _was_ a weapons expert.

"Do you want to show me around the Great Fox, Mr. Enfield?" he asked me.

I was about to say no, but I worried that he might not take no for an answer. I said, "Sure. I'll do it".

I got up off my bed. My leg was working normally again now, so I was physically okay with showing Jack around. I felt like he'd probably already had more than enough time to explore, but I was going to give him the tour anyway.

First, I showed him around the top deck. "Here's all of the cabins, and here's the med bay. Konstantin and myself have both spent some time here, and it's pretty well-equipped".

"Indeed, this would probably put any human hospital to shame" Jack said, chuckling. That surprised me. I'd only known Jack for about fifteen hours, but I'd never figured that he even _could_ have had such a lighthearted side to him.

Jack took note of the beds, the cabinets, the IV poles. Then, he turned back to me. "Do you want to show me the other decks now?"

"Yeah. I'm assuming you've already seen the control room?". He nodded.

"Let's do it, then" I said.

We took the stairs down to the second level from the top, and I showed him the dining room. He seemed to approve of it, so I went down to the rec room, where Cole, Ian, and Willow were having a Mario Party match.

"I see that they pulled out all of the stops in building this ship" Jack noted.

"That's true" I said. "They really did think of everything".

Finally, I showed Jack the hangar, which really impressed him. "This is going to be the number one place where I'll be doing most of my upgrades" he said. "Of course, we'll be better able to defeat the Venomian forces if we have very strong weapons, stronger than we have now. I don't mean to brag, but it sounds like I came at the perfect time".

"I agree with that statement" I said to him.

Jack indeed looked very happy to be with us. I decided that I liked the military side of him better. He just didn't look natural when he was acting super happy. I just wanted to fix up these weapons. Then, I wanted to take all of the planets that we needed to take. Then, I wanted to win this war.

* * *

Later, I was heading to the rec room. My leg might have healed up much faster than expected, but that didn't change the fact that I had quite a few other distractions. Over lunch, we'd talked more about strategy, and how we were going to battle on Titania, our next destination planet. Even though we had a plan, I still had apprehension about this.

For one, I didn't know how well Jack would be physically at combat. I mean, he'd been good at tejo in Colombia, if what the others had told me was true, but that didn't change the fact that tejo didn't exactly prepare you for war against aliens.

I was hoping that there would be someone to hang out with there. Someone with whom I could play table tennis or Mario Kart or something like that. There was no way I was going to do this all alone.

Thankfully, I wouldn't have to.

Because the first person I found in the rec room was my girlfriend, Willow Foster. She appeared to have been looking for me as well, and, knowing how much I liked video games, would probably have guessed that I was likely to be hanging out here.

"How's it going, Willow?" I asked her.

"I'm a bit sad to leave Cartagena, but we'll have a good time on the Great Fox too. At least, until we reach Titania. Then it's back to battling, and Lucas..." she trailed off.

"What is it?" I said.

I could tell she was fighting back tears as she said, "I don't want you to get hurt again. Try to avoid the lasers tomorrow".

"Wait, _tomorrow?_ " I asked. I was surprised by this. It had taken five days for us to get from Corneria to Fichina, so I was expecting to have had at least another day or so.

"Yeah. According to Falco, it'll take about a day to get to Titania. You look like you're not ready to fight for your life again".

"Well, what would there have been to fight in Cartagena?" I said. "Drug cartels?"

We both had a good giggle at that. Then, she said "Do you want to dance again?"

I had a short debate with myself about this. Eventually, I decided that I might as well do something with Willow, in order to distract myself from everything else. Whether or not we were about to die tomorrow, at least I could have one more glorious day with Willow, the one person I wanted to be with ore than anyone.

"Why not?"

* * *

 **WILLOW'S POV**

I selected the song "Hey Ya" by OutKast. It's considered a very good dance song despite being a highly emotional tune about relationship issues. I tried to tell myself that no, this was just a coincidence, and Andre 3000's thoughts didn't really reflect my own.

The song started playing, I grabbed Lucas's arms, and the rest is history.

We started by doing a slow dance, something that you might see at a wedding. Of course, if my thoughts were anything like Andre's, we were far from the point where we would even consider marriage.

"Hey Ya" wasn't just the happiest song released in 2003. It was probably the happiest-sounding song released during the entire decade. The first stanza is sung by a guy who's in a relationship with a girl who he is sure isn't cheating on him, because she loves him. _But,_ he asks himself, _what if she actually DOES want to cheat on me, but won't because she doesn't want me to get mad and leave her?_ It's also a reflection on the divorce rate increasing, but to each his own.

As we moved, I planted a kiss on Lucas's cheek. I realized, however, that there were some things about the song that _were_ resonating with me, more than I would have liked to admit. It was quite scary, and I wondered: Was love really the exception to the rule of "nothing lasts forever"?

The music player censored one adult word from that song, but it was easy to get the meaning, even if the song was very deceptive in sounding so fucking happy. Lucas grabbed my arm and spun me around, and I then did the same thing. Slowly, we were moving around the room.

That third-to-last stanza is the most deceptively happy part. "Shaking it like a Polaroid picture" is really quite a happy-sounding thing to do, but in reality it's just a distraction from the true meaning of the song. In fact, at one point Andre even says that you don't want to hear him, you just want to dance. And that is _so_ true.

But as I tried to think about how grateful I was to be with Lucas at this moment, I kept on having those doubts. It was really scary, because I knew that Lucas was fully committed to me. I didn't want to tell him that I didn't love him anymore. I was pretty sure that I still loved him, though, so that wouldn't be quite true.

And really, _could_ we even break up now, with everything riding on the Star Enfield team? It would be very awkward to work together as exes, so that might not happen. We'd gotten ourselves into this, and so we'd have to "stick two together" as Andre 3000 puts it, at least until we defeated the Anglars.

But maybe we didn't know how.

* * *

Still, though, I was confident in our relationship after seeing Lucas in his room again that afternoon. I felt that the sparks between us were still going strong, and I really did love him. I wasn't leaving him anytime soon.

On the other hand, I could definitely see problems. For one, Lucas seemed to be very clingy. He seemed to always want to be with me. Which I didn't have a problem with, but he set too much store by what I wanted. I cared enough about Lucas to also care about how he took care of himself. I mean, he was recovering from _laser wounds._ Clearly, I shouldn't be his only priority.

Another thing was at dinner that evening. Lucas didn't have his napkin on his lap. Now that I thought about it, I realized that he never did on the Great Fox. I didn't call him out on it, because that might be seen as rude. Even so, not displaying such basic table manners was a problem for me. I might not have had the most affluent childhood, but this was such an important thing to me that I just couldn't let it slide. Maybe some other girl could, but not me.

And after dinner, when I was in Lucas's cabin (I was just wandering the ship and he wasn't there), I noticed that something in his room was out of place. His clothes, including his boxer shorts, were strewn all over the floor. He couldn't even keep his own area clean. Now, I'm not considered a fancy girl by any means, but even I was not going to be able to let this go too easily.

One might call me picky, or a crazy girlfriend, for these things. Napkin on your lap, boxers in your drawers...those are things that shouldn't really be deal-breakers. And they weren't, at least not for me. But maybe the threat of the Anglars, of the Venomian forces, was stressing me out.

Or maybe I was just seeing all of the bad things about Lucas Enfield for the first time.

* * *

 **KONSTANTIN'S POV**

I was pissed.

Rightfully so, since Wolf had still not truly gotten his justice. First, he turns the court against me, causing me to almost be executed. I didn't know if I'd ever recover fully emotionally from my ordeal. As long as I did not make sure that Wolf suffered _personally_ for his actions, I was always going to have an axe to grind with him. That's just the way it was.

Then, Wolf had shot Lucas with his blaster. Meaning that Lucas almost died. And Wolf had gotten shot by Cole after that, so at least he'd had _some_ injury. But he'd escaped then.

There was just no easy way to get revenge. And so, I decided that I was going to take matters into my own hands.

I wasn't anywhere close to getting to actually do anything to Wolf right now. I mean, Wolf was probably on Venom right now, waiting for Andross to awaken or whatever, and we were just traveling towards Titania. We weren't close at all. But there was a way that I could satiate my hunger for revenge.

And so, I'd gotten some crayons from the supply room of the Great Fox. I wasn't the best artist despite being a huge nerd. But even when my fluids were at their lowest levels in that cell, I'd been able to keep a very specific picture in my head of that fucker.

With relative ease, I was able to control my hand movements and put together a C+-grade portrait of Wolf O'Donnell. And C+ would be graded by kindergarten standards. It really was a pretty mediocre job, but I knew what it was, and so was Wolf likely to if, for whatever reason, he happened to wander into the same room as me on the Great Fox.

 _Wouldn't that be great?_ I thought.

Almost immediately, I realized that it wouldn't actually be as awesome as I assumed. I had no confidence that I would be able to take Wolf in a fight, when I was being perfectly honest with myself. It just wasn't going to happen. I'd need to have more skills.

Which, of course, was one reason why I had decided to do what I had decided to do.

* * *

I went into the weapons room of the Great Fox. It was for weapons training, like throwing knives and things like that. For all the world, it was kind of like the training room in _The Hunger Games._ I'd practiced fighting with swords and blasters here, but by far the most enjoyable for me, the one that was best at venting my anger, were the knives. They were very satisfying to throw, because it was just so awesome to see them spin around in midair when, instead of cutting through fruit, they're about to cut through someone's skin or something.

That was a morbid thought, but whatever.

I got some duct tape and taped the poster of Wolf to the boards on the wall. Then, I took out a knife and threw it at the target.

It just barely missed. Yesterday, I'd managed to practice on my hand-eye coordination when we'd played tejo in Cartagena, but here it didn't seem to be helping. I was back to my old ways of being not very good at that. And so, I was back to the drawing board. Practice, practice, practice.

If I turned twenty years old before I was able to get this correctly, that would make me even angrier at the universe, but I'd be even more desperate to take it out on Wolf.

I made another throw, and it barely missed the target once again. Instead, it embedded itself in the wall, much like the knives do when they have the guy at the circus throw knives at a clown. Hissing in frustration, I went to remove it.

"Let me help you with that" came a voice from the doorway.

I turned around and found that it was, in fact, Jack Novsky, the new member of our team. He was standing in the doorway, looking a little stern, but also willing to help me train.

I was about to protest, but Jack said, "I'll give you some pointers. Come on".

Jack showed me the correct way to hold the knife so that it would be easier for me to hit the target that I had drawn. With his aid, I was able to land less than an inch from Wolf's head.

"Who's that?" Jack asked. "I notice that your target looks like a person. Why are you throwing knives at them?"

I might have lied, but I got the feeling that Jack would be able to sniff it out easily. "It's Wolf O'Donnell, and I'm pretty mad at him right now".

"What did he do? I mean, _yeah,_ he was on Andross's side during the First Lylat War, but I thought he had come over to our side".

"I thought Falco told you. He was the one who swung the jury into voting for my conviction. Because of him, I got sentenced to execution by firing squad, and I would be dead right now if I hadn't gotten busted out of there by the Star Enfield team" I said, trying not to clench my teeth.

"Sounds like a major jerk. I'll help you with your knife throwing".

"And he also shot Lucas with a laser from his blaster, so that's another thing. But, by all means, help me perfect my throw a little more".

This time, I managed to hit Wolf in the leg, near the place where he had shot Lucas. Another knife landed in his heart. I was getting a lot better at this!

* * *

That night, we ate dinner in the usual dining room. Over dinner, we decided to have a strategic discussion about the next day's battle.

I thought back to the last battle I'd been in...which, really, wasn't much of one. Besides the whole Sector X trip, there had been the battle that had ensued when I was being freed from my mountain prison. But I hadn't been a participant, just the person who was carried back to the Great Fox on a stretcher.

But tomorrow, we were going to reach Titania. Tomorrow, we were going to battle for control of the red planet. I didn't know if I would even survive tomorrow, so there were quite a few things that I wanted to say to people.

Over the last three weeks, we had definitely built a lot of trust with each other. That was one thing I was sure of. And I'd been keeping track of the days as well. It was February 23, 201Y. _Exactly_ twenty-one days since we'd left Corneria.

"So we're going to go to Titania tomorrow" Jack said. "While we're there, I'd definitely like to take the base, because that's going to be an important way to get to Venom. The more of their bases we can take, the better chance our invasion has of working. I really do think we can do this".

"We're going to attack Venom head-on?" Ian asked.

"That's right" Falco said. "And, once we can take over Venom, the rest of the Anglar race is at our mercy. We're going to decide then whether to make peace with them or destroy them".

"Personally", I said, "I'm okay with destroying them".

"I know" Lucas said. "But we have to see how things are going then. Right now, we have to get ready to attack the enemy base on Titania. I don't know how easy it'll be".

"It'll be pretty hard" Dr. Howler said. "It's pretty well-defended, for one. There are no doubt a lot of traps and tricks in there, so that's something we'll need to be careful of".

"And when are you going to upgrade the weapons?" said Ian to Jack.

"Once we get done with Titania, I'm sure that I'll find what I need in the ground. Titanian dirt is what's needed. I know this, because I've used it before to upgrade ships like this. I'll give you guys the speed you need".

Falco brought out a map of the base, showing us where we would have to go in and out. It sure looked well-guarded, all right. I wondered if this was what it had been like to break me out of the Cornerian prison. It must be pretty hard to free a death-row prisoner like they did.

"We're going to enter here and exit here, picking off as many guards as possible. We'll have to touch down about two kilometers from where the base is, because we don't want them to see us. Sandstorms are pretty frequent, but visibility of the Great Fox is still a problem".

"And once we've gotten Titania", Jack said, "we can move on to Bolse. We'll capture the satellite and then move towards the upper planets. How's that plan to you guys?"

"I like it" Cole said.

"I think we can make it work" said Dr. Howler.

I agreed with everyone else that the best course of action was to capture the satellite, or at least destroy it so that it could no longer be used to defend Venom. But Zoness, Macbeth, and Area 6 were still the top priorities to attack and defend, because that was where the war was going to be won or lost.

This was complicated stuff.

* * *

 **LUCAS'S POV**

That night, I had yet another nightmare. This time, I wasn't on Venom.

Instead, I found myself on the planet Titania. The very planet that we'd be battling on tomorrow. All I knew was that I _really_ didn't want what happened in this dream to become reality.

I could hear laser fire all over the place, and I instinctively ducked to avoid it. I didn't want to get shot again. Not so soon after having my leg repaired.

Of course, I knew it was just a dream, much like many of the others I'd had. Even so, that didn't make things too much less terrifying. I still knew that we'd be facing these dangers tomorrow, whether I liked it or not. That was just the way things were when you were a member of Star Enfield.

The fact that it was a dream didn't prevent me from feeling the full blast of the desert air on my skin, either. It really wasn't pleasant, to say the very least.

Eventually, I was just _crawling,_ like someone suffering from severe starvation and dehydration in the desert, not something that would be too unusual for someone in this situation. I knew that I would need to wake up, or else I would get shot again.

* * *

I sat bolt upright in my own bed on the Great Fox. I couldn't believe it. Today was the day that we were going to fight on Titania.

There was a very real chance that I was going to die. But I would do everything possible not to let that happen. And I was determined to protect Willow, Cole, Ian, and Konstantin as much as possible. I was convinced that Falco and Dr. Howler would be able to take care of themselves.

After I got dressed and put the rest of my clothing in its proper drawers, we ate a quick breakfast before arming ourselves for battle.

It was time to take Titania. And then, we'd be one step closer to Venom.

* * *

 **I do not own the song "Hey Ya". Nobody does except Andre 3000, or Possum Jenkins, or whatever you want to call him. And Big Boi, too. OutKast in general is who owns this song. Not me, not anyone else on this site. Maybe one of the two of them has an account, but I have no way of knowing that.**


	10. Guns For Hands

**All right. SnowLucario back again, this time for Chapter 10! Hey, that rhymes.**

 **This chapter will contain the battle of Titania. I really hope that you enjoy it. There will be a few parts that are slightly graphic, but not necessarily M-rated. If you can't stomach it, that's a "you" problem, not a "me" problem. It's also the longest chapter yet of Attack Of The Anglars, beating out the previous one by a couple hundred words. I'm hoping that you enjoy it.**

 **I'll use another AskReddit question today, just because I didn't get any: What makes life worth living?**

 **SnowLucario answers: There are so many things. There are my friends at school, drawing, video games, food...and FANFICTION! Seriously, I do this for sometimes 4 hours a day. I really do need a life. But I love it, and it's normally when I don't have anything better to do. Aside from that, I do gain some enjoyment from being with my family, although we can annoy each other to death. But school, food, the treadmill, and fanfiction is basically my life right now. And it's not a semi-charmed life. It's a fully charmed life.**

* * *

 **COLE'S POV**

The landing gear came down, and the Great Fox slowly approached the ground. As we had been told, the ship was touching down about two kilometers from the base, reason being that we didn't want it to be seen. If we were stuck on Titania, we were going to dehydrate and die within a few days to a week. It wasn't a sustainable environment, not by a long shot.

The instant we stepped out of the ship, we felt the warm air on our skin. It was probably only about seventy-five degrees, and it was also dry heat, so it wasn't nearly as bad as it might have been. However, I tried to breathe out of my nose, rather than my mouth, as much as possible.

This was because the gusts of wind scorched my throat and were very unpleasant. I knew that this wasn't going to be fun. Unfortunately, we had no choice. We had to take Titania if we were going to take Bolse, and then take the other planets on the list. Then, and only then, could we take the fight to the Venomian forces.

"We're going to be using the Landmaster" said Falco. "It's too dangerous in the air, and this is the best way to get there. It'll take about fifteen minutes to get to the base from here, since it's so sandy. Jack's going to drive it, because he's used to tanks. Ian, Cole, you guys get in with him. The rest of us, we'll follow on foot. Are you guys cool with that?"

After Lucas, Willow, Konstantin, and Dr. Howler nodded their assent to this idea, I climbed into the tank. It was really quite a tight fit, with three small seats like those on an airplane, except not too much legroom. I was just glad that Lucas wasn't in there with us, because then it would have been very uncomfortable for him.

Jack was tall, yes, but his legs were not quite as long as Lucas's. He was able to control the tank as we slowly approached the base.

Looking out through the windows of the Landmaster, I could see that battle was all around us. Enemy robots were manning cannons, and I could see that there were some shells on the ground. Falco and the others would have to be very careful to step around all of them. If they stepped on one of those shells, they would be blown sky-high and probably get killed or grievously injured. As for the tank, it could handle a little more, but they would still be set off by the weight. We had to be very careful not to heart Lucas or anyone else there.

As Dr. Howler sidestepped some lasers, the group of five just barely avoided setting off an anti-personnel mine. They weren't holding hands. Instead, they were walking single-file, slowly making their way through the desert so as to keep up with us. I was starting to think that Falco's estimate of taking 15 minutes to reach the base was _way_ too optimistic. If we were lucky, we might be there in half an hour, assuming we didn't die first.

"We're getting close to a river" Ian said.

Looking out the window, I noticed that he was right. A river that was colored brown, probably only because of all the sand and silt that it reflected, lay in front of us by about a quarter of a mile. It seemed to be about thirty yards wide, but there was no way that we would be able to cross it in the tank.

"Let's leave the landmaster here and go on foot" Jack said.

"We're going to swim across?" I asked.

"Yes. You don't mind getting a little wet, do you? That's the only way we can get to the base from here".

"I'm willing to do it" Ian said.

"You're outvoted, Cole" Jack said.

"I never said I was against swimming across the river! If you two do it, I'll do it as well. Let's go".

* * *

The others seemed surprised to see us step out of the tank. They probably expected us to attempt the crossing in the Landmaster, as stupid as that might be.

"We're all going to swim across?" Dr. Howler asked.

"Yeah" Jack said. "Be careful not to get your blasters wet, or else they might not work as well as we need them to. Also, the water is-".

Lucas stepped in first, then immediately jumped out, rubbing his leg.

"-very hot" Jack finished. "The rivers on Titania run at a temperature of 125 degrees Fahrenheit, which is dangerously high. However, it wouldn't be any better in the Landmaster, we'd just sink to the bottom".

" _Wait..._ how deep is it?" Willow asked.

"Best not to find out, I would imagine" said Konstantin.

"That's true. But let's just get across. I'm sorry that I don't have anything to deal with burns right here, so it's best that we just try to keep as much of our bodies out of the water as possible. It's going to be more beneficial if we do that. _Definitely_ avoid getting your face wet here". That was Dr. Howler talking.

Encouraged by her words, I waded into the river. The water was very hot, just like I had been told. It was a lot warmer than a hot tub, and it was the type of heat that caused pain all up your body. It wasn't a good feeling. But we kept on wading through, and, eventually, swimming.

If there was one good thing about the Grey Clouds Flight Academy, we had been taught Aquatics well there. We were able to swim across while holding our blasters above out heads so that they didn't get wet. We knew that we needed them for the actual battle, so it was best not to let the hot water ruin them.

After what felt like an eternity, we reached the other side. My fight suit, I had been told, was waterproof, so I didn't have to worry about it being ruined by the river. Everyone else seemed fine as well, so I felt a rush of pride.

We'd made it across. Now, the base was just half a mile ahead of us. We were going to make it there!

"Are you guys ready to take this fortress?" Falco asked. "It's going to be difficult, but very rewarding. When we take Titania, that's one step closer to winning this war".

"Let's do it!" Dr. Howler said.

I was a little nervous for this battle. It had been only eight days since Lucas had been shot by Wolf O'Donnell. If he was here, then Lucas would surely want some revenge on the lupine.

But would revenge come before reason? We couldn't afford to let it.

* * *

 **LUCAS'S POV**

It was easy to figure out the point where we should start our efforts to take the fortress. The hangar was wide open, and there were six personal spacecraft in there that no doubt belonged to the Venomian army. If we could neutralize them, so much the better for us.

"Do you want to destroy those ships?" I asked. "That'd be a good idea!"

"Sure" Cole said.

Once we got into the hangar, we started kicking at the planes until our toes hurt. I didn't know if this was the most efficient way to disable their Arwings, or whatever these ships were called, but it was working.

Eventually, the paint finishers were starting to look a little cracked, until Cole gave us the idea to continue waling on them with our blasters. This helped to make it so that the inner workings of the ships were visible. I was starting to worry that we might get an electric shock when some enemies came into the room.

It was much like the situation that had happened last month at the GCFA. There had been the whole attack by the Anglars, which had resulted in me getting bitten by one of them. I'd been injected with the proper antidote immediately, but the scar on my leg was still there, after all these weeks.

More importantly, that situation had been the catalyst for Konstantin getting arrested and condemned. And so it goes.

" **GET THEM"** one of the aliens ordered. The Anglars next to him (or maybe it was a her) pulled out blasters and tried to shoot us.

I ducked behind one of the broken ships and fired at it. I wasn't the greatest shot, and it showed. My laser missed by a mile.

"Let me handle them!" Falco said.

Falco, on the other hand, didn't have nearly as difficult of a time as I did. It was clear that he had had far more training than myself, and he managed to get one of the aliens in the stomach. I was just watching him helplessly, hoping that none of the aliens would be able to suss me out of my little hiding spot.

There were more aliens coming in, and this time I decided to fire at will. It wasn't like I had anything to lose at this point. Falco was also using one of the mangled ships for cover, so I wasn't running any risk of hitting him on accident. That just wasn't going to happen.

"Are you ready to head inside the base?" Falco asked.

"As ready as I'll ever be!" Cole said. "It's time to take it to them!"

We headed inside the door and into a different world entirely.

* * *

For one, the environment inside the base looked a lot more sterile. It looked a lot more like a hallway in a high school or hospital, not like a stereotypical military stronghold. The floor was made of white tiles with black rectangles in the middle, and there were plenty of windows, through which you could see the Titanian desert, including the scalding river that we had just crossed in order to get here.

As we began to run down the hallway, I was taking full advantage of my long stride once again. Due to having such long legs, I'm a very fast walker, and I was really appreciating this for the first time since being shot. It was very liberating, but it would have been even better had we not been in the middle of a battle for the Titania base.

We saw some more aliens, and we blasted them whenever we needed to. For the most part, however, it wasn't too big of a deal. Things were going pretty well so far, it was just a question of if and when we did run into a swarm that was too great for us to handle. I feared that it would only be a matter of time.

When we turned a corner, we saw something that we hadn't been expecting. Indeed, it was _someone_ I hadn't been expecting.

A brown vulpine was shooting his blaster at the aliens in front of him. He gave no indication that we were there, until he turned around when he had the chance.

"Hey, guys!" Fox McCloud said to us.

* * *

It was pretty great to see Fox again. He was mostly traveling around the Lylat System, helping the army wherever he could. The last time I saw him had been in the hospital wing of the GCFA, when I'd been recovering from severe hypothermia. He'd left after that, presumably to take part in another combat mission.

"Nice to see you, buddy!" Falco said, giving Fox a pat on the back for shooting down some of our enemies.

"I know" Fox said. "How's the war been going?"

I could tell that they were about to reminisce about some of the things that had happened over the last several weeks. I was about to tell them that we had more important things to worry about at the moment, but Dr. Howler beat me to it.

"We can catch up later. Right now, we really need to get through the enemy forces. It's nine of us against probably _hundreds"_.

They looked back at the Bengal tiger, who pointed with her blaster that we should make a left. This would take us out of the hallway that we were currently in and into a place where we couldn't see the window.

"Let's go in there!" she said.

We came in after her. Since she was the physician here, I didn't think that it was too strategically wise to have her be our meat shield. Even though she was a tiger, she was skinnier than anyone present except for Ian and maybe Willow. She wouldn't be able to block most of the lasers.

I decided not to worry about that. We had a lot more to be concerned about.

* * *

The hallway we had turned into was black with teal lights on the walls. It looked quite creepy, but also a bit... _comfortable,_ in a way.

Anything that reminded me of my parents was unwelcome now, especially in a situation like this, but I remembered that time that my mother had taken me to the New England Aquarium on one of our vacations. It was a stopping point on the way to our summer house on Cape Cod.

The lighting there looked _just_ like this. It didn't particularly smell like an aquarium, though. Not like chlorine. I wasn't particularly sure about the vibes I got from this place, but it definitely felt somewhat scientific in a way.

Jack was also present. He'd mostly hung back, which was a good thing. However many of the rest of us were killed or injured in this battle, Jack was the most important member to keep alive, except for maybe the doctor. He was the one who was going to upgrade our weapons.

"I have a bad feeling about this..." Ian began.

He didn't need to finish the sentence. Indeed, he hadn't even needed to say it out loud. _None_ of us felt good about what we were going to be seeing on the other side of this hallway.

It sloped upwards quite quickly, and it felt kind of like that room in the Chancellor In Peril level in _LEGO Star Wars_. On the other side of that hallway, there's a room with a dark pit and shower heads that dispense poisonous gas. If what was on the other side of _this_ room was half as dangerous, Ian's thoughts were mine exactly.

We reached the top of the hallway, and then we saw the full scene.

* * *

The room was about the size of a baseball field, with a circular platform in the middle. This circular platform was blue with plenty of orange lines going from a hole in the middle to the edges. The whole circular platform probably took up roughly the area of the diamond consisting of the bases.

We were on a catwalk on the edge of the room that ringed the whole area. It was only about three feet wide, so there was a certain degree of vertigo that was inherent. There were four staircases, much like spokes on a wheel, that were attached to the catwalk. The pit went down I didn't know how far. There was no way that anyone could survive a fall down there.

On the circular platform, there seemed to be a meeting of some sort. Then, I realized the truth.

There was one human, surrounded by aliens. The aliens looked to be about to push the man into the hole in the middle.

Before I could do anything to stop it, Jack came running down the catwalk. I tried to persuade him not to interfere, that it would make no difference, but he wasn't going to listen to me.

"This is _wrong_ , Enfield. I'm going to stop this no matter what, and nothing you say is going to change my mind about it".

At that point, I could tell that he was committed. Jack was bound and determined to save this man.

I could have pointed out any number of things, of course. We knew nothing about this man. Maybe he had done something terribly wrong and was now being punished for it. Then again, whatever the Anglars considered wrong would probably be something _we_ considered right.

 _You just can't win,_ I thought.

* * *

 **JACK'S POV**

I ran down the catwalk, making sure not to lose my balance. It was definitely more than a hundred feet that this hole went down, maybe even to the center of Titania. It wasn't a place I wanted to end up, that was for sure.

It wasn't rational, what I was doing. On some level, I was aware of this. It was a more human instinct that most people seem to have that motivated me to stop this man's execution.

Why he was being pushed into the middle hole was anyone's guess. Maybe it had to do with the probable claustrophobia factor. The hole was only two feet wide, and this man wasn't too thin. He'd have to be very careful not to let his arms bounce all over the walls, which would likely make his demise even more painful than it needed to be.

I shoved the guards away, but it didn't do anything. Really, why in the world had I thought it would?

All it served to do was get the guards angrier. They immediately pushed the man into the hole, and he fell, screaming, until I heard a splashing sound. A black liquid splashed up and some got on me. I had a feeling that I knew what it was, as it was very hot on my clothes.

Luckily, the hot tar did not burn through my shirt, which was good. However, there was no question in my mind that whoever had just been pushed into the tar pit was dead. Or, at least, dying right now, in which case there was no way to stop it. It really had all been for nothing.

The aliens who had pushed the man into the tar pit were now on to me, but I managed to get ahold of the one who had pushed that other man in there. With him fighting tooth and nail to get out of my grasp (he must have weighed two hundred pounds, not easy for someone my age), I pushed him.

It took a lot of my strength, but he toppled into the hole. I could tell that he was trying desperately to save himself, but to no avail. I had to step back to avoid getting hit by the black liquid. If it actually touched my skin, it would hurt a _lot._

 **"That's it!"** one of the Anglars ordered. He charged at me, but I managed to hold him off with my blaster. One shot to the stomach, and he fell backwards. He didn't fall into the pit, but he came pretty damn close. And I'd achieved my goal of putting this one out of commission.

As it turned out, however, the one I had just shot had only been serving as a distraction from the real threat. For there had apparently been an Anglar behind me, and, as I was congratulating myself on this small victory, I felt myself get hit in the back of the head by what must have been a pistol.

I keeled over and thought no more.

* * *

The next thing I knew, my head was hurting like hell. I'd been pistol-whipped any number of times in the First Lylat War, so I was no stranger to headaches. However, _this_ one was pretty bad, even with my prior experience with them.

To make matters worse, I felt like I was in chains or something. I knew that my every movement felt constricted, like there was something holding me there.

But it felt like there was a knife between my eyes, and it was very difficult to open my eyes in order to see if I was really restrained or if it was just my imagination.

Eventually, I managed to force them ajar. And I found that I was, indeed, in chains.

I was chained to a wall, my feet about two feet above the floor. My arms were also chained to the wall, so there was no lying down. It would have been impossible to sit down, since the wall was only three inches behind me.

It was pretty uncomfortable, to say the least.

About a minute after regaining consciousness, I saw an Anglar walk into the room.

He was very obviously the leader of the group. He was larger than the others, with brown skin and yellow eyes, along with the fish mouth that was common to all Anglars. He wore an ornate cape, with a maroon robe with golden yellow trim all around it. He looked at me with a menacing expression, and his eyes looked slightly crazy.

But he was _mad,_ and it showed. "Please explain what happened".

I laughed snidely. "I've been unconscious for...I don't know how long. _You_ tell me what's going on".

"You're under arrest for killing one of our own. Executioner Grings was pushed into our tar pit by you".

"His name's Grings?" I asked.

"Yeah, but that doesn't matter. I am the Anglar Emperor, and you are going to be brought to the courtroom to stand trial in just a few hours. Not only did you kill one of us, you're suspected of aiding Star Enfield, ruled as a terrorist organization".

With that, the self-proclaimed Anglar Emperor left the room, leaving me alone to ponder some things.

If they considered Star Enfield to be a terrorist organization, that was not good news for us. Granted, they probably already did, given that we stood in opposition to the Anglars, so I guess that should have been common sense.

I really did hope someone came for me. At the same time, make no mistake that it was very humiliating for me, as a former military guy, to be chained up like this by an enemy, when I obviously should have been far better at my job.

I was pretty sure that, if Lucas, Falco, and the others didn't get to me soon, I was going to be executed in the exact same way I'd killed Executioner Grings: By being pushed into that pit of hot tar.

That was not an outcome that I wanted, and so the only way I was going to avoid that was to be rescued. As to how they were going to get me out of these chains...we could cross that bridge when we came to it.

* * *

 **LUCAS'S POV**

It had all happened so fast. If Jack hadn't been so determined to help that man who the Anglars were holding captive, they would not have captured Jack himself. That was just so stupid of him that I needed a third hand to facepalm.

He was taken away right in front of our eyes. I was at least glad that we hadn't seen him get dropped in that hot tar pit, or whatever that seemed to be, but that didn't change the fact that it was very possible that his fate might be even worse.

"I can't believe he did that!" Willow said.

"I know" Dr. Howler replied. "But we've got to be productive, guys. We have to continue taking this base. If we can find out where Jack is being taken, so much the better. But right now, I think it's important to do what we came here to do".

"I agree" Falco said. "Come on, guys. The other aliens are leaving the room, so we have our chance. Let's get closer to the center of the base, and maybe rescue Jack in the process".

I could see that Falco was right. Soon, there were no more Anglars on the central platform, all of them having left the room for the hallway on the other side of the tar pit.

We ran down the catwalk and across the circular platform in the middle of the baseball field-sized room. Then, we went through the door.

For better or worse, we were back in the normal types of hallways.

* * *

Fox McCloud was still with us as well. But, like Dr. Howler had said, we didn't really have much time to catch up. As much as Fox and Falco might have liked to talk to each otehr about what had happened over the last month, it just wasn't going to happen. There was too much to get done.

We continued jogging down the hallway. Whenever we saw aliens, either Falco, Fox, or Konstantin would shoot them with their blasters. I didn't know where Konstantin had gotten such great aim, but I decided not to ask him. There were more important things going on right now.

Such as, the fact that there were ten Anglars right in front of us.

Ian, instead of shooting the Anglar with his blaster first, punched it in the face. While this might have been a little questionable in terms of a strategy to kill it, Ian really was pretty good at this. The alien was stunned, and this allowed Cole to finish it off from twenty feet away.

"Nice haymaker, Ian!" Willow complimented him.

"Thanks, Willow!" he said, continuing onto the next aliens.

We continued to plow through the aliens, making good time on our way to the center of the base. We did see plenty more of the bad guys, but they posed no real threat. Dr. Howler had warned us that she didn't have any of the antidote, so it would be best if we didn't get bitten by any of them. She was okay with Ian punching them, though. Apparently, the poison could not be transmitted through the skin, only by an actual bite.

Eventually, we came into a room that was completely clear of the aliens. When we reached it, we saw that it looked kind of like the lobby of a hotel, except without the normal chairs or rug or breakfast buffet.

Fox and Falco ran over to what appeared to be some kind of map on the far wall. I could tell that it was a map, because it had a compass rose on it, and there seemed to be various rooms and hallways on it. The base looked even more complicated than I had thought at first. How were we going to find Jack in the middle of all this?

"He's up the hallway, to the left, and up three flights of stairs. Then, there'll be another map on that floor. I know this place, I've seen it before". That was Fox talking.

"You've been here before?" Willow asked the vulpine.

"Yeah. We've been scouting out the base for months, looking for a place to attack. So far, no dice. We're the ones who are going to end this, one way or another" he said.

We ran up the hallway until we came to a fork in the path. We turned left, trying to shoot down any Anglars that we came into contact with. However, there weren't any, which made me feel a little uneasy. Perhaps they would all be there to wage one _huge_ attack on us when we finally got to where Jack was being held.

After the three flights of stairs Fox had mentioned, we came to another map. This time, Falco ran over to it.

"We're going to keep going up. This is the fourth level, and we're trying to get to the seventh level. Then, we'll be able to follow the map on _that_ floor to find Jack. Then, we can kick some alien ass".

I knew that was not going to be easy. No doubt, there were going to be a lot more enemies up there.

* * *

Surprisingly, the seventh floor was not nearly as well-guarded as we might have thought it should have been. In fact, there was only a group of five Anglars there, playing a game of poker. At the same time, the song "99 Luftballons" was playing. An odd choice of song for a poker game, but to each his own, I guess.

One of the aliens dropped a couple of chips on the table. As he did so, his blood ended up all over the table.

Dr. Howler had gotten in a good shot on his back, and the alien had slumped over his hand (if you must know, it was a full house). The other aliens stood up from their game, splattered with the blood of their fellow comrade.

They all pointed their blasters at Dr. Howler. Of course this was what happened, in accordance with Murphy's law. If Dr. Howler got shot, there would be no one else to take care of anyone else injured. We were past Fichina now. We'd have to wait until we got back to the med bay in the Great Fox to heal any wounds. And, if someone got shot with a laser like I had, it was highly unlikely they would make it back to the ship.

We all shot the aliens, trying to make sure that none of them hit the Bengal tiger. For her part, Dr. Howler was dodging the lasers pretty well also. One just barely singed off a small spot of her fur, but other than that she was fine.

Finally, we had managed to defeat all of the aliens that were present in the room.

"We beat them all!" Falco said. "Now, let's get to where Jack is being held".

"Are you sure about where he is, Falco?" Dr. Howler asked him.

"As sure as I am that my name's Falco Lombardi!"

On the avian's cue, both Falco and Fox pulled out their blasters and shot at the chains that were covering a large, ornate door. Once the chains had been shot, they unraveled, and the door was now able to be opened.

"Let's do this!" I said.

We stepped through the door and ended up in a very dark room.

I mean, this place was almost pitch-black, except for the fact that you could see catwalks lined with yellow lights, with only very narrow railings, so that if you were my height, you might accidentally fall off if you were really careless.

"I think we can get to him!" Fox said.

"I'm up here!" said a gruff voice that we all recognized, despite only having known the person it belonged to for two days.

"We're coming for you, Jack!" Ian yelled up.

* * *

It was a little hard to figure out the way to where Jack was chained to the wall. The whole room was a maze of ladders, staircases, and catwalks that, combined with the dark atmosphere in the room, made it difficult to see where we were heading.

Eventually, we did come to where we were facing Jack. He didn't look too much worse for the fact that he was being held prisoner here. His clothes were not in tatters by any means, and he still had a smile on his face, something that you wouldn't expect on the face of any military guy. Like, _ever._

"Can you get me down?" he asked.

Fox immediately got to work on the chains. Seeing how complicated they were, he simply pulled out his blaster and shot them. Jack collapsed to the ground, freed.

"Thanks, Fox! I thought they had me. I was literally going to be executed if you didn't save me" he said, patting his neck as if to make sure it was still there.

"I can relate to that" Konstantin said, not looking happy.

"This is no time to celebrate" Falco said. "Now, it's time to get to the control room. There, we can shut down this base for good".

"I know where the control room is" Fox responded.

"You do?" I asked. Why hadn't Fox told us this before?

"Yep. Just follow me, and it's that simple to take Titania".

* * *

Fox led us down another hallway once we were done in the dark room with all of the catwalks. Then, he turned right, leaving us to follow him until he led us up a couple more staircases.

"Once we reach the control room, it's just a matter of entering the right code, and then the whole base starts to shut down. It takes just ten minutes for it to explode, so once I've punched in the code, _run._ You don't want it to end up like last time I saw Lucas".

I knew what Fox meant. "Thanks for reminding me" I said.

We entered a room with what looked like thousands of multicolored buttons in it. All sorts of gauges and gadgets were attached to the walls, and there was no way to tell what any of them did. At least, not for a neophyte like me.

"Here's where I'm going to put in the code" Fox said, pointing to what looked like a calculator on the side of the wall. "It's 58227, and I'm doing it right now. Like I said, you'll want to get out as quickly as possible after I've done it. The base is going to explode, and it's not like the movies. You're going to get _killed_ ".

Fox punched in the code in the proper space. The whole time, I'm kind of ashamed to say, I was mesmerized by the immense array of buttons on the walls.

"Okay, we're good. Now, let's get out of here!"

* * *

We ran out of the room and down the stairs. It was a little difficult at first to figure out the way, but Fox seemed to have burned it into his brain. Which was a good thing, because we were all pretty much counting on Fox to help keep us safe. That was just the way things were going.

I wasn't too worried that we weren't going to make the time, however. Fox had definitely provided us with ample time to get out of the base. Ten minutes was more than enough.

Even once we had gotten out of the front door, we continued high-tailing it away, back towards the Great Fox. Somehow, Jack was still able to run even though he'd just been chained to the wall. I was going to have to remember to ask him about that later.

After once again crossing the boiling river, we made it back to the Great Fox. Cole, Ian, and Falco drove the Landmaster back to the ship.

Somewhere around here, the base exploded, causing a sound that sent a shockwave and nearly caused me to faint. Being on the autism spectrum can really make a person more susceptible to loud noises, and that is me to an extent. However, I've gotten better with that over the years.

Fox couldn't stay with us. He was needed in other places around the Lylat System, which seemed to be pretty much becoming a usual thing.

"I'm sorry, guys, but I kind of need to help with the war effort in other places. I want to thank each of you individually, just in case I never see you guys again.

"Falco Lombardi. You've always been one of my best friends ever since elementary school. I've been honored to fight by your side, in both the First Lylat War and this one. Sometime, let's meet in a Cornerian pub and celebrate our victory over drinks".

"Not until we win!" Falco said, chuckling.

"That's right. Not until we win" Fox replied.

Fox then said, "Tigre Howler. If it wasn't for you, Lucas and I wouldn't even be _alive_ right now. I'm glad that you have helped us so far, and that you will continue to do so is my wish. Because I really do feel that you have a role to play in this war".

"And that role is medic" Jack said.

I mostly skipped over the rest of it, as self-centered as that seems. I'm generally not one to pay too much attention to things that I'm not interested in, and this was no exception. I waited until he got to my girlfriend before I tuned back in.

"Willow Foster. You were a big help with destroying the Anglars during this battle, and I'm glad to have had you with us. I think this is a good part to get into...". He looked at me, and I knew that I was going to be the next and final person he addressed.

"Lucas Enfield. It feels like it's been ages since I last saw you. The last time, I seem to remember, we were in a 7-foot sphere of ice, awaiting death".

"You never told me that story" Jack said.

"I'll tell you a little later" I told the weapons expert.

"In any case", Fox said, "I think that you are definitely achieving greatness, much like I told you back then. I mean, you're the de facto leader of the team, considering that our enemies seem to be calling it _Star Enfield._ There's still a long way to go, but we're going to be good friends for quite a while once all this is said and done, I'm sure".

Fox patted me on the back as he walked over to his Arwing. Then, he took off, leaving a trail of dust through the orange sky.

* * *

Once we got back on the ship, Jack had to get to what he had promised to do when joining the team. That was upgrading our Arwings.

We went into the hangar, which was of course where our Arwings were being kept. We hadn't had to use any of them over the course of the battle of Titania, and I was very grateful for that. Now, though, Jack was helping to prepare us for when we _did_ need to use them.

"I'm going to use some of the rock that I collected to put into the laser area. These lasers will not move any faster than they were before, due to lasers already moving at the speed of light. However, we are going to make them more powerful. The blue lasers are more powerful than the green ones, but the purple ones are the strongest of all, and I want to make sure that you guys get to use them".

"How did you learn how to upgrade weapons so well?" Willow asked Jack.

Jack rubbed his neck. "I used to be stationed in the Bosnian War when I was a young man. That was where we learned. In a war zone, you kind of have to learn fast".

I understood that well enough. And Jack certainly did seem to be good at his job, although I suppose that I should have reserved judgment until after we had already seen what he could do for us.

"So...what's the story, Lucas?" he asked me.

I began by telling him about my normal middle-class life in a small Maine town, and how I'd gone to a Christmas ball with Willow on the night we were captured. We'd been conscripted into being students at the Grey Clouds Flight Academy, and I'd gone on a mission (which I still suspected was what Jack was asking me about).

Eventually, the Anglar forces had attacked the school, and we simply weren't safe there anymore. And so, we'd fled to their alternate location in the mountains. Since they needed someone to blame, and Konstantin, being known for very strongly disliking Corneria, fell right in the firing line, the Texan had been locked up. A few days later, he'd been tried and sentenced to execution, but we managed to free him in the middle of the night before his scheduled date to appear in front of the firing squad.

We'd been on Fichina for quite a while before I was shot in the leg with a laser. After recovering from my operation, it was determined that we, once again, simply weren't safe on the ice planet anymore. And so we'd packed up again and gotten to Sector X, from which we managed to find him in Cartagena.

"And that's where we are now" I finished.

"That's all well and good, but you didn't tell me the story about the ice" he said.

I was a little reluctant to relive that experience. It hadn't been pleasant. But I gave him the short version anyway.

"During the mission to defuse the bomb, it went off, creating an enormous avalanche. Fox and I were buried under the snow and were there until they came back the next morning with specialist equipment. I was unconscious for something like 18 hours, but that's not important".

"How did they manage to wake you up? You must be pretty cold-blooded!" Jack said, seeming shocked that I was standing before it.

"Well, they warmed my blood right up" I said, trying for a joke.

"In any case", Jack said, "I'm going to upgrade the engines of the Arwings so that they can fly about 25% faster. This is going to be pretty valuable, I think".

"That sounds good" I said. "Let's go to lunch with the others. I'm sure that we'll have some interesting strategy discussions".

* * *

The mood at the table was jubilant. After all, we'd just won our first major battle, and there would hopefully be many more.

"There you are, Lucas" Falco said. "We were just discussing what we're going to do next".

"We're setting course for Bolse" Dr. Howler said. "We should get there tomorrow, most likely. I'm sorry to say that it looks like tomorrow is going to be another battle day".

My heart sunk. I was hoping that we would get to have some time to peacefully hang out on the Great Fox. I wanted to have more time with Willow Foster before we had another battle. Even one more day would have been nice.

Instead, we were going straight to Bolse. Where, I didn't want to mention, there was a good chance that we might just die. The satellite was likely to be well defended, considering that it itself was the defense satellite for Venom.

"So from Bolse, we've still got Zoness, Sector Z, and Macbeth to take, then Area 6" I said. It sure seemed like a colossal task to accomplish.

"It's far from impossible, Lucas" Jack said. "I'm going to give you guys the weapons capabilities that you need in order to succeed in this war. We're going to win it, one way or another".

But it was hard for me to see how. It was a long way upwards, perhaps several days even, from Bolse to Zoness, and then we'd have to take Sector Z before going into Macbeth. It wasn't going to be the easiest task.

And then there'd still be the final battle on Venom, which would go on for who knew how long against who knew how many enemies. Really, it might be a hundred times crazier and more massive than the battle of Titania had been.

"It's February 24 now" Konstantin said. "We escaped on February 2. What are the odds that the manhunt for me is still on?"

Falco looked over at the Texan. "Not unlikely in the slightest, considering that three weeks really isn't too long of a time considering everything. But I think I know what you're asking, and the answer is: Maybe if we win".

Nobody needed for Falco to elaborate. We all knew what he was talking about. There was ample evidence that Konstantin had _not_ ordered the attack on the Grey Clouds Flight Academy, and he just might be pardoned if we came back to Corneria having won the war. That was really the best that we could hope for given the situation. And that still depended on there being a Corneria to come back to.

"Let's make sure we do".

* * *

Later that night, well after dinner, I was with Willow in my own bunk. We were hanging out together, having some nice conversation about the day. It was tough to have just a normal one-on-one with your girlfriend when you had just been through such a dangerous battle as the one we had just completed.

"I'm so glad we're still alive" Willow said. "And that we found Jack. Who knows what would've happened to him otherwise?"

"I'm happy about that as well" I said. But, really, my thoughts were, _Jack got himself into that mess and we had to save his ass!_

I didn't say that to Willow, however, because I didn't want her to think me rude. This was not like me at all; normally, I was one who liked to voice my opinions out loud. But something about being around Willow right now made me feel that I shouldn't say it.

Was Willow helping me cope with having Asperger's? It seemed like that might be the case. This girl might just be the tear in my heart.

That led to me thinking about Twenty One Pilots, and their song by the same name. Tyler Joseph, the lead singer, wrote the song about his wife, Jenna. He'd said that he wasn't going to write any love songs until he got married, and, once he did, that was what he wrote.

Eventually, Willow fell asleep in my arms. We had been cuddling together, and being in bed probably influenced it. This was probably quite a bit like how it had been in Cartagena, when we'd been in bed together.

I was going to take Willow back to her own bed, but then I realized that it probably wasn't a good idea to force someone to sleepwalk. I hoped that I wouldn't get in trouble for allowing her to sleep in my bed tonight, or that we were doing something dirty.

Instead, I got out my iPhone and went to YouTube. Within forty-five seconds, I was listening to the very same song that I'd been thinking about.

Like so many other songs by this band, the lyrics are about real life. I was really feeling that Willow was _mine._ I felt that things were really going well between us right now.

Literally, she'd fallen asleep in my bed. That was pretty funny. I could barely avoid myself from laughing, because I didn't want it to seem like I was mocking her in case I ended up accidentally waking her up as a result of it.

At a certain point, I succumbed to slumber myself, headphones still over my ears, and still very satisfied about the results of today's battle.

* * *

 **One more announcement to make: I have begun Beta Reading. I'll be fairly selective, but if you wish to acquire my services, just follow the instructions on my Beta Reader profile. I'll give you some tips.**

 **This is not only the longest chapter so far, it is (as of now) the longest chapter in the story total. Chapter 15 may get edited to be longer, but until then this is going to be the largest chapter in Attack Of The Anglars.**


	11. The Battle Of Bolse

**25 reviews with five chapters to go after this one. I hope I can make it to 40. Maybe.**

 **All right. Chapter 11. As you can tell, I've put up a poll on my profile of your favorite one of my stories. Thus far, the only vote has gone to Wing And A Scare Book I. Also, once again, the update days for this and Underworld have coincided.**

 **The next few chapters may feel like I'm rushing through the action a little bit, but it's not super important to cover absolutely everything. This is where we are going to get a little deeper into the battling. Remember: there's still five more planets and sectors to go through before Venom!**

 **This chapter will also feature a neutral POV at the end. This is what I did for both of my SYOTs. I hope that you find it to your liking.**

 **Responses to reviewers:**

 **Cosmicsafe74: I'm glad you like the way this is going.**

 **Zaravan: Yep, they've toppled one obstacle, still some more to go.**

* * *

 **LUCAS'S POV**

The next thing I remember, I was waking up the next morning with the face of Dr. Howler in, well, my own face.

"So you've woken up. Good" she said, looking at me with a very irritated expression. Trying to remember what I had done wrong, I nevertheless tried to look as innocent as possible.

 _That was right..._ I'd been cuddling with Willow in my cabin, and we'd both fallen asleep. My headphones had been removed from my head, and I didn't know exactly why Dr. Howler seemed to be so angry about it. It had not been on purpose, so why should it be so big a problem?

"Each of you have your own cabins for a reason" she said. "You are only supposed to sleep in your designated cabin. Lucas Enfield, Willow Foster...I will ask you to work together to clean the dishes after breakfast for the next week. I think that this is a just consequence".

"But it was an accident!" Willow said. "I didn't mean to fall asleep in Lucas's bed. It just...happened. Believe me, I'm sorry".

"If you're truly sorry", the Bengal tiger said, "you're going to do what I ask of you. And don't even _think_ about trying to get out of it".

I stopped protesting right there. There were three things you didn't do in front of Dr. Howler, and those were disobeying her medical instructions, questioning her judgment, and refusing to do what she asked of you regarding something else. Really, you wanted to do whatever she said, because it was for your own good, and hers. I mean, she was a _doctor._ They know some stuff, right?

Breakfast was right then, so we quickly changed out of our pajamas and went to the dining hall. The others didn't look pleased that they had had to wait before digging into their food, but that wasn't _our_ fault, at least not if you asked me. Maybe if you asked Dr. Howler.

"So today we're going to try to take down Bolse" Falco said, as if it was as easy as getting a snack from the fridge.

"It's not that simple" Dr. Howler said. "There are going to be a hell of a lot of aliens there to guard the core, which is what we are really after. And if we destroy Bolse, we still have four whole planets and sectors to go through".

"I know" Konstantin said. "But I've played enough military video games to know that every time you take one of their bases, it really does help to drive them back. We are going to be able to get this done, one way or another".

I was a little surprised by the Texan's demeanor. He was rarely so optimistic as he seemed to be today. I could only hope that all of us had such reasons to be optimistic as he no doubt did, but I wasn't too sure about that. The way things were going, it was hard to imagine a happy ending.

 _No,_ I thought. I had to keep on thinking that there was a way that we were going to win this war. And, perhaps if we won, Konstantin might be pardoned. I could hope.

But it was important to be realistic, and think about what was going on today. That was, we were going to Bolse. And we were going to take the satellite, or otherwise make it so that it could not be used by the enemy forces.

"So we take Bolse", I said, tearing into a baguette, "and then we head up-galaxy until we get to Zoness. We'll take those upper planets and then go to Macbeth. Then it's Area 6 to Venom. Sounds like a challenge".

"I've been working on the Arwings" Jack said. "I think that I've gotten them to a point that they can definitely be flown a decent bit faster than they were before, by a factor of five over four. Just make sure that you can control them well".

"I'll second that" Falco said. "It took me and Fox a long time to learn how to fly well, so I don't think you are all experts after just a few weeks. Especially Lucas" he said, pointing to me.

I felt mildly embarrassed at that. It wasn't my fault that I'd been shot and been unable to use my leg to help pilot an Arwing.

"We'll make our way through the various hallways and tunnels within the satellite, and then we'll get to the core and strike it down" Jack said. "From our study of the satellite, that is what we have learned of how it was designed".

"Yep" Falco said. "And, with that, it's time for you guys to get ready. We should be arriving at the Bolse Defense Satellite in just about two hours. And I've heard from Tigre that you have another task, Lucas Enfield and Willow Foster. You've got to wash the dishes".

I wished that Falco wouldn't have reminded me of that, but I didn't dare say it out loud. I knew that I had to do what Falco demanded or else. He was a lot like Dr. Howler in that sense.

Willow and I got set on doing the dishes. It wasn't the worst thing I'd ever done. It wasn't as though Dr. Howler had ordered us to clean the entire ship using a toothbrush. Things really could be worse.

Although, I did have a question about why Falco had addressed the doctor the way he did. Before, he'd always called her Dr. Howler. Now, he called her by her first name. Why was that?

 _Is it possible that...that..._

I didn't want to let that thought finish. I had enough to worry about without thinking about whether or not sparks were flying between our ace pilot and our Bengal tiger doctor. I didn't even want to wonder about what their baby would look like.

 _First things first, Lucas. Survive today first. Then, you can worry about whether or not they're falling in love._

That sure sounded like a good idea to me.

It wasn't a tough task, and we were done within twenty minutes. Really, if Dr. Howler took the cadets sleeping in their own cabins that seriously, her punishments didn't show it.

I decided that I was going to go and visit Jack. I walked down the hallway towards where there was the lift to the room with the cannons. I opened the door and found exactly who I had thought I would see.

Jack Novsky seemed to be working on his next project. He'd said over breakfast that he was going to work on upgrading our cannons. Not those of the Arwings, those had already been upgraded. No, he was upgrading the cannons of the Great Fox.

"Oh, hello, Lucas" he said as he saw me walk into the room.

"How's it going, Jack?" I asked him.

"It's all right. You know, I didn't sign up for so many battles. I thought, being 47 and all, that I would be mostly done with being a foot soldier, but that has obviously not been my experience here".

"Of course", Jack said, "once we get to Zoness, we probably will mostly be using the Arwings there. And Sector Z as well. There isn't much place to go on foot there".

I nodded. "Jack, do you think that we can take Bolse?"

"I definitely do, Lucas. It's important to be optimistic. After all, it's, what, February 25 now? It sure has been a while for them to still be on the hunt for Konstantin".

"I know" I said. "Let's hope he gets pardoned if we win.

"I'm sure that could be arranged. But right now, Lucas, you have to get ready for battle. I'll see you later".

Jack made me leave the room, although I knew that he was right. We really did need to prepare if we wanted to win today.

* * *

 **WILLOW'S POV**

Approximately two hours after Lucas and I had finished washing the dishes, we reached the hangar bay of Bolse. The satellite was absolutely massive, perhaps two miles from top to bottom. It was so big that it even had its own gravity and an artificial atmosphere, meaning that as long as we were inside the little invisible bubble surrounding the satellite, we would not suffocate or die from the radiation.

If you ask me, that was kind of a stupid design flaw, which could make it easier for it to be invaded and destroyed. But that's just my own opinion.

We got out of the Great Fox, and immediately were greeted by stale indoor air, just the kind you would expect from such a large defense satellite. Psychedelic lights covered all of the walls of the hangar bay, so it would be like some kind of crazy drug trip. At least, that's what I'd imagine, since I have never taken any non-prescription drugs.

In any case, it was both beautiful and terrible at the same time.

Over the last few weeks, I'd taken some time to play Star Fox 64 on the Virtual Console of the Wii that we had in the rec room on the Great Fox. I was aware that, if you arrive on Venom from Bolse (which means you either let Slippy get smacked down to Titania, shoot the Forever Train down on Macbeth, or let a missile in Sector Z hit the Great Fox), you get the bad ending, meaning that the Andross you destroyed was just a robot and the real Andross is still alive.

Hopefully, _this_ Battle Of Bolse would not have such a depressing ending.

"That's quite a hangar" Cole said.

I knew what he was thinking. In fact, those words echoed my thoughts almost exactly. But there was really one thing that we had to do, and that was:

"Let's get inside the base and work our way to the core" Jack said.

* * *

We ran inside the satellite and almost immediately were swarmed by aliens.

Of course, Fox was the best shot that we had had yesterday on Titania, but he'd gone off somewhere else now. We couldn't rely on his help anymore.

"Let's get them!" Falco said.

Lucas began shooting his blaster. As much as I loved him, I was a little wary of being in a relationship with someone who could shoot like that. Then again, all of us had used blasters before as well, and Lucas had gotten shot _by_ one. There was no reason to be so judgmental about that.

The hallways here looked kind of like those on the Star Destroyer from _Star Wars._ There were multicolored lights on the sides, with white walls and gray floors. And the aliens were kind of like Stormtroopers, for want of a better comparison.

Cole was also a big help. He was pretty accurate with his shots, and without him there is a good chance that we might not have done as well as we did. I still wondered if he had ever killed anyone before in his life back in Detroit, but I had decided long ago that I was never going to ask him that question. I was sure that he wouldn't want to tell me if the answer was yes. Either way, he'd probably stop liking me.

 **"Oh no! They're crushing us!"** one of the aliens shouted.

 _Yeah, you guys are going down,_ I thought.

Really, we had the better weapons. Those Anglar blasters were no match for ours. Falco was occasionally checking the maps of the base that were scattered all around the hallways to help figure out the way to the center. Unlike the base on Titania, Bolse was a little simpler in layout and easier to navigate. In spite of everything, there only seemed to be one level of passageways, the hangar bay being close to the top.

It really wasn't too hard to get to the middle. We made some left turns, then a couple of right turns, and we eventually came to a corridor that was teal around the edges. According to Falco, this was the way to the center stairwell that led up to the outside of the satellite.

"If we climb up there, we'll have to take down the six energy towers. If we can do that, we just take down the core and we're going to be golden. Let's get this thing done!"

I couldn't argue with that. After a few more hallways, and a few dozen more aliens, we reached the stairwell. It was spiraling all around the room up to the ceiling, which was about a hundred feet up from here. It looked like the mansion of an _extremely_ wealthy person.

"Up there!" Falco said. "That's where the energy towers are going to be. We're going to have to take them down, and we're going to take down the core, and then it's off to the upper parts of the Lylat System! Let's do this!"

* * *

As we ran up the stairs, it became easier and easier. I realized, eventually, that this was because the gravity was beginning to decrease. Although the Bolse Defense Satellite generated its own gravitational force, it was, according to Falco, only about a fourth as strong as it was on Earth or Corneria, or even Fichina.

I was even more grateful that we could still breathe, thanks to the invisible bubble of air. It really did help, because if it had not been for that, there would be no way that we could destroy the energy towers.

"You take those on the left, I'll take the right!" Falco said to me.

We had reached the top of the stairwell. In a two-mile square around us, there were six towers twenty or so feet tall, with lights on the top. The ground was metallic gray and very boring-looking, which I suppose was just what should have been expected on the defense satellite.

Thanks to the low gravity, I was quick to reach the first one. Pulling out my blaster, I aimed upwards at a high angle. Sure enough, I was able to take down the first energy tower with no problems. Because of the gravity being only 25% as strong, I was able to reach heights of up to seven feet with each jump. It was really quite fun, much like one of those bouncy houses they have at birthday parties.

The energy towers were perhaps three-quarters of a mile apart from each other, but it felt like less than a mile to me. Within fifteen minutes, I had gotten to all of the towers. Shooting them down was a piece of cake.

I looked over to the other side of the satellite. Nearly two miles away from me, Falco had been doing the same. Together, we had successfully shot down all six of the energy towers.

"Look out, Willow!" Falco yelled from far away. Then I remembered that my flight suit (which I was wearing right now) had a communicator on it. That was how I had been able to hear him from such a great distance. Then, I noticed that there was something rising in the center of the two-mile square.

It was the satellite's core. A hundred yards wide, there were any number of yellow squares on it that I could only assume were meant to be shot down. Some of these were shooting lasers at me, and, not wanting to get as seriously hurt as Lucas had, I ducked out of the way as soon as possible.

Mashing the trigger on my blaster, I ran around whenever I needed to. I didn't really care where I was shooting, I just wanted to _keep shooting._

Falco was completely on the other side, but I saw that there were only a few spots left on the tower. Eventually, there was one.

Then, Falco said, "I just shot down the last one. Be careful! Once we've gotten all of them shot down, there's still the fact that it's going to explode ten minutes after that!"

" **YOU COULD'VE TOLD ME SOONER!**!" I yelled, sprinting back to the middle before I took my last shot.

My last laser hit the core head-on, and it exploded. Somehow, neither Falco nor I were harmed in the slightest by the blast, although my ears were still ringing for several hours after that.

"Attack those stairs! We can't be here when this base blows up, or we're done for!"

We sprinted down the stairs and met up with the others. "We've got ten minutes to get out of here before the base explodes" I told them.

We all started running as fast as we could, consulting the map occasionally when we weren't sure where we had to go in order to get out. It was very unnerving to have to figure out the way when all of us knew that we didn't have much time to get out of here. It wasn't a situation I would have willingly entered into, mark my words.

In any case, we faced a few aliens on the way, but we were mostly focused on running. A laser to the leg wouldn't matter if we died from the explosion.

We didn't hesitate to get into the Great Fox, and then Falco piloted us out of there as quickly as he could. And not a second too soon, too.

Because as soon as we were three hundred yards away, the satellite exploded, sending debris all over the place.

"We did it" I sighed in relief.

I had to sit down to prevent myself from passing out.

* * *

Later, we had a strategy meeting at lunch. In order to celebrate our destroying the Bolse Defense Satellite, Konstantin and Dr. Howler had worked together to make a pizza recipe he had known back in Texas. It looked pretty good.

Granted, _any_ food would taste as great, at least in my own opinion, if you had just succeeded in such a dangerous and important battle. We'd just destroyed Bolse. That wasn't a small victory by any means.

"So, now we've taken Bolse" Cole said. "What's next? Zoness?"

"Yeah" Jack said. "Any idea of how long it's going to take to get there, Falco?"

Falco had been poring over a map of the Lylat System that he'd been using as a napkin. "It's going to be about a week until we reach the toxic waste area. It is February 25 today, right?"

"Yeah" Ian said.

Since unmasking himself back in the Cornerian mountains, Ian had slowly been opening up more and more. Hard to believe it had only been 23 days since we'd rescued Konstantin; it felt like several years.

I thought about how everyone else had changed in the last few weeks as I bit into my pepperoni pizza (which was pretty awesome, by the way).

Cole had told us that he'd been kind of a juvenile delinquent back in his old life in Detroit. Right now, though, it was hard to see it. He was very loyal to the group. I'd never forget how he had helped to save Lucas's life not once but twice. And he was a real crack-shot with the Anglars. That was something that I would commend him on for a long time.

Konstantin had become, if anything, _more_ brooding and patriotic as the weeks had passed. No doubt having been through a harsh imprisonment in a mountain dungeon did that to a person. At the same time, however, he had shown a different side. He seemed to be very brave from what I could tell. After all, he _had_ risked quite a lot when he'd arrived at the flight academy, singing a song that he thought was patriotic while flipping off the Cornerian flag.

Lucas Enfield...I could write a whole book about the guy. I loved him so, and yet he also irritated me at times. I just wished I knew precisely what I thought about him. The way things were, I was pretty jumbled up. But if anything, surviving being shot with a laser at point-blank range was making him more arrogant. Again, I didn't know what to think.

I could only imagine what the others thought of _me._

"So it's March 4 by the time we reach Zoness...man, it's been a long time that we've been travelling".

"I know" Lucas said. "But once we do that, we're in the home stretch. Just a few more battles and we will have won. And then, _we_ get to create the rules".

How could Lucas sound so vindictive all of a sudden? This made me a little more wary of him.

Still, though, I couldn't dwell too much on that. Not when we had a week of downtime until we reached Zoness. Then, the _real_ fun would begin.

* * *

 **KONSTANTIN'S POV**

In reality, it was only going to be about five days until we got to Zoness. Our estimated arrival date was March 2 rather than March 4. It had just been that five days was kind of close to a week, so that was what we had said during lunch.

I was in the map room, charting a course with Falco and Dr. Howler. It didn't look like there would be too many obstacles on our way. We could just go past Macbeth rather than Solar. Even though the former was well-defended, we weren't going to be shot out of the sky for just passing through. Most likely, they would save that task for the Venomian forces on Zoness.

I helped our chaperones figure out the route, and then I decided that I wanted to have something to do over the next five days besides just help the adults with everything (granted, I was only two and a half months from being twenty myself, but I'll digress). Jack was still working on weapon upgrades as far as I knew, and Falco and Dr. Howler...who knew what was going on with them?

I could definitely tell that the two of them had gotten closer over the last few weeks. Ever since we had fled Corneria, I'd started to suspect that there might even be a chance, however slight, that they were falling for each other. I mean, I was a nerd and all that, but even _I_ knew the telltale signs of the beginnings of a romance. That was just something that I was able to pick up on.

I was just standing there absentmindedly, when I felt myself clutching a furry body close to myself. I was choking the person, punching them with every bit of my being. I imagined tearing off his gray fur with my teeth like a German shepherd.

Oh, and did I mention that this body belonged to Wolf O'Donnell?

He wasn't on the Great Fox, but I felt the need for revenge was stronger today than it normally was. Normally, I was able to temper myself a little bit by resolving to focus more on the battles. Given that we were entering a five-day grace period, during which we would be pretty much free of deadly fights for our lives and the Lylat System, it was starting to flare up again.

In other words, I wanted something else to get me through this semi-charmed life.

I decided to head to the wrestling room. I'd never done too much of the sport myself, but it was at least going to be something to do while I waited for my chance to actually get revenge on that jerk.

I was just about to throw myself onto the mat with no real rhyme or reason when I heard a voice from behind me.

"You want me to help you practice?"

I looked around. Falco Lombardi was walking into the room. Apparently, they were completely done with whatever they had been doing at the moment.

"You know, you're the perfect build for a wrestler" Falco said.

"Thanks" I said, not really taking it as a compliment. I'd always been a little bit chubby, a lot more so for a period in my early teens, but now I was back to being slightly overweight after I had lost some weight in that prison cell.

"So here are some moves. There's the piledriver, for one".

Falco picked me up and hurled me upside down. This was not something I was ready for, and I quickly became disoriented. I'd luckily taken off my glasses, or I could have gotten hurt pretty badly.

"Sorry. That was probably not a good move to start out with, am I right?"

"Yeah" I said. "Why don't you teach me some other moves?"

He showed me the dropkick, the Boston crab, and several other moves. Once I felt that I had gotten a good grasp on it, I asked for an actual match between the two of us. I was playing dangerously today.

Falco accepted, and right away I knew I had made a big mistake. Falco was clearly an expert at this, while I was just a beginner. I really did suck at wrestling, and I really had been far too ambitious in requesting a match.

"I'm sorry" I said. "I know I suck at wrestling".

"That's okay" Falco replied. "It takes a lot of practice, and you're only just starting. Is it okay, if I may ask, that you tell me why you decided now was the time to take up wrestling?"

 _Do I tell him?_

"Yes" I said. "Basically, I am just _so angry_ at Wolf O'Donnell for getting the jury to lock me up and execute me. And then he shot Lucas! When I saw him lying there...that really made my blood boil, let me tell you!"

Falco stroked my back as though I was a crying little boy. "I know. But Lucas is fully recovered now. And we're going to win this war. And, once we do, I will give you the full privilege of killing Wolf. Do you want to do that?"

I smiled. "I thought you'd never ask".

* * *

Back in the rec room, I found Lucas sitting on the couch in front of our Wii. I debated asking him if he wanted to play a game, until I finally decided in favor of it. We had five days until our next battle, so we could afford to enjoy ourselves for a little while.

"Hey, Lucas, would you like to play some Mario Kart or something?" I asked him.

He looked over at me. "Yeah, sure. I think we could use some distraction from the war. Now...which one? Wii?"

"Yeah".

Lucas took the _Super Smash Bros. Brawl_ disc out of the system and replaced it with the _Mario Kart Wii_ disc. Then, he sat on the couch next to me.

We ended up selecting a VS. race, with Lucas playing as Yoshi and me playing as Wario. We had a pretty good time. At least, we were until one thing happened on the final race.

We'd been trading off first place and second place. Lucas had a total of 42 points by virtue of winning the first and third races, while I had 39 by virtue of winning the second. The last race was pretty much going to decide the winner between the two of us.

Lucas had gotten off to a pretty good lead, and he had a very good chance to win the race. However, he heard the dreaded sound coming from behind him.

"Oh, fuck!" he said, realizing that he was about to be hit by a blue shell.

It was too late, however, and the shell came and sent him flying. Because of this, I was able to take first, while Lucas slid all the way down to 7th place.

"Dude, that's bullshit. I fucking _hate_ the blue shell!"

"Why do you think Nintendo put it in the game, then?" I asked him, grinning from ear to ear.

"To annoy people?" Lucas said. We both laughed a little at that.

We shook hands as a sign of good sportsmanship. It really was something that came from surviving several very dangerous battles over the last few weeks. We were staying alive despite everything, and I figured that was reason enough to celebrate.

That was also why, when I went to bed that night, I felt truly **happy** for the first time in more than a month. I felt like things were going to go well. And I knew that I was going to get my sweet revenge on that asshole by the name of Wolf O'Donnell. It was going to happen.

* * *

 **NEUTRAL POV**

The beginning of March came during Corneria's rainy season. The city was soaked, with the bright colors of billboards advertising everything from video games to presidential candidates to shampoo dulled slightly. The sky overhead was a very grim color, perhaps #597979. Rain poured down, and anyone with a little bit of sense was sitting inside their apartments with a hot drink.

Except for one person. He was, after all, Corneria's main military general, and he had paid an instrumental part in the war eleven years ago. Now, today, he had a meeting to go to with a certain other person.

It pertained to a certain escaped prisoner, who, for four weeks, had not been caught. He was now suspected to be traveling with Lucas Enfield and his team.

"I'm getting too old for this" General Pepper said to himself as he left his apartment. Making sure his jacket was secure around him, he hailed a taxi to a nearby bar, which was where he was supposed to meet with James McCloud.

James had been killed by Andross after being betrayed by Pigma Dengar in the First Lylat War. Now, he was able to come back in hologram form. He'd presided over the trial of Konstantin Brockenbough, the escaped prisoner. Now, they were going to the bar to discuss Konstantin and the war.

General Pepper's taxi took half an hour, driving on the slick streets, to reach the pub. Called Foxy Flagons, it was known to serve up all sorts of beverages and bar food, both alcoholic and non-alcoholic. Right now, Pepper needed to be sober, so he got in the bar and ordered his favorite drink to have here- seltzer water with a splash of cranberry juice.

The pub was empty but for them, which wasn't surprising. It had been booked specifically for this meeting, and was not open to the public for this two-hour period. After all, this was all classified. The public didn't need to be constantly worried about Konstantin Brockenbough. They were worried enough knowing that he had been at large for a month now and they had not seen hide nor hair of him.

Eventually, Pepper's friend arrived. James McCloud was his usual cyan holographic form, hanging about two feet above the floor of the pub. He looked irritated about something.

"How's it going, James?" the general asked the vulpine.

"It's really kind of shitty right now, General" the fox said. "We've been looking for this guy for a month, and yet new intelligence suggests that he was on Fichina for a period of roughly a week and a half".

"You don't say! How could the Fichinans have willingly kept him there without holding him accountable, or sending him back to us? More importantly, how could they have kept this from us?"

"I don't know" James said. "But it gets worse. According to them, new evidence has come to light that suggests...uh...".

"What is it?"

"Our new evidence seems to suggest that Konstantin may not have actually been the one responsible for the betrayal of the Grey Clouds Flight Academy. In that case, he was obviously wrongfully convicted, although I don't know exactly how we can figure out which interpretation of the facts is right and which one is not".

General Pepper was shocked. In all of these weeks, he had never considered the possibility that Konstantin was innocent. He'd assumed that the jury on Corneria, at the alternate location for the school, was sufficient to ascertain the truth. And they had ruled Konstantin guilty. Normally, Cornerian justice was pretty good at determining these things.

Unlike America, where all twelve jurors had to vote guilty for the defendant to be found guilty, Corneria only required a simple majority of seven out of twelve. There was no filibuster or anything, that also having been done away with a long time ago. When there were no defense lawyers, no huge bureaucracy, things got done a lot faster.

"You've got to be kidding me. I can't imagine that-".

"Well, that's what seems to be the case. Those on Fichina must not have been convinced of Brockenbough's guilt, or else they would have sent him right back to us. You _know_ this, Pepper. The Fichinans are a lot harder on them than we are".

General Pepper thought about this. He guessed that this made sense.

"It seems that one Wolf O'Donnell may have attempted to manipulate the jury into swinging against Brockenbough" James continued. "I don't know if that's the case, but we have to give the intelligence the benefit of the doubt. I think that we have reason to trust that".

"Where is Wolf now?" Pepper asked.

James looked a little angrier. "We never should have trusted him. He never really changed. On Fichina, he shot Lucas Enfield with a laser. He's okay now, but Wolf escaped. Right now, we're looking for him as well, although he's probably going back to Venom".

"What could he be doing there?"

"It's anyone's guess, really" James said. "However, we have to be prepared for the worst. If he was willing to kill William Wexford, Michael Kirk, and Athena Hooter on his way to get to Lucas Enfield...that's a problem. Definitely, we're going to have to get rid of Wolf sooner rather than later".

"Now that you mention it, yeah, it's probably best that we do as much as we can to kill him. Because we can't recapture him, or else he's just going to escape again. We need a more permanent solution. How is Konstantin doing?"

"Konstantin Brockenbough seems to be fully recovered physically. I'm not _too_ sure how emotionally well he is right now, but rest assured that when he gets back, if he has helped us win the war, we are going to give him a full pardon. How does that sound?"

General Pepper squeezed his lime wedge into his drink, which he only had about a fourth left of.

"I think that's a good idea, if he truly is innocent. I _hate_ executing people for no reason, and it looks like we almost did. It's a good thing that Star Enfield managed to break him out of there. It's our own fault, isn't it?"

"No" James said, a vindictive expression appearing on his face. "It's Wolf's".


	12. Two Battles, One Chapter

**This chapter is not as long as I would have LIKED, but I think it's still a decent length. I only hope that you agree with me. I also want to apologize in advance for the fact that I suck at writing battles.**

 **Disclaimer: If I owned Star Fox, I wouldn't be in school right now.**

* * *

 **LUCAS'S POV**

 _Boy..._ I was bored as hell.

It had been a total of five days since we'd departed Bolse for the upper reaches of the Lylat System. Since then, Dr. Howler had insisted that all of us get in a workout every day, insisting that we needed to remain in shape for the inevitable battle on Zoness that we were all going to facing soon. At one point, she'd even gotten Falco to stop the ship in a place where we could all practice flying, because Zoness was a toxic waste planet. It wasn't a place that you could really walk, or run, on.

All in all, I, as well as the rest of the boys, were getting restless. I'd never gotten to know if I had ADHD or not (as far as I knew, just Asperger's), but I didn't view that question as important. After being cooped up on the Great Fox for as long as all of us had been, anyone would become as desperate to do something dangerous, or at least physically exhausting. That was just a fact of life. And, as much as Willow might be trying to hide it, I could tell that she was probably feeling exactly the same way.

Really, the last five days had tested us in a very different way than we had been tested over the last month since leaving Corneria. We weren't in danger, but we knew that we were going to be again soon. Since Zoness is on the hard route in Star Fox 64, I could only guess that this meant it would be more dangerous than Sector X or Titania, for instance, had been. And Titania had been no cakewalk.

In any case, the fact remained that we were only three hours from Zoness now, on the morning of March 2, 201Y. That was what Falco had said over the intercom, waking me up from my slumber. It was going to be time to kick some more Anglar ass, like we'd been doing for four weeks. Yes, that was what was going to happen today.

After getting up, getting dressed, and brushing my teeth, I debated what I was going to do before breakfast. Knowing that there was one person who was almost guaranteed to be up by now, I decided to go and visit him.

* * *

Jack always seemed to get up very early. He was always working on something or other within the ship. Whatever it was, he was working himself pretty hard, but Dr. Howler was making sure that he was eating enough.

On this particular morning, Jack was working in the engine room. The goal, he told me, was to upgrade the engine to the point that it could move us roughly 25% faster than it had currently been doing, reason being that the sooner we were able to defeat the Venomian forces, the better. We didn't want to give them too much time to attack Corneria, because that would only serve to weaken their efforts against the Anglars.

"That sounds like a pretty good idea, Jack" I told him.

"Why, thank you, Lucas" he responded. "It's definitely going to help us a lot. I'm installing the boosters right now, and I'd say that the upgrades will be ready, if not by the time we reach Zoness, definitely tomorrow, when we'll be at Sector Z".

The way he said it made it seem like he was absolutely positive that there would _be_ a tomorrow for us. There were no guarantees right now. Not when you were a member of the Star Enfield team.

"You nervous for today's battle, Lucas?" Jack asked me.

I saw no point in avoiding it. "Yes, Jack, I am. Zoness is pretty dangerous, with all of those searchlights. Not to mention that the ocean is toxic from all the trash that's been dumped there over the years".

"We're going to get through this, Lucas. It can't be any harder than breaking Konstantin out must have been".

I thought about it. That _had_ been pretty hard, yes. "I still don't see what this has to do with Zoness".

"We will figure it out. It's all going to work out. Now, I suggest that you get some breakfast, young man. I'm not the only one who's lost weight here".

He was right. After weighing myself on the scale, I noticed that I had dropped a couple of pounds. The stress must have been catching up to me. This war was not easy.

* * *

Later, I decided to visit with Cole. We had decided to "bro down" and have an honest discussion about what was going to go on today. I could tell that the usual pre-battle jitters were hanging heavily on both of us. But there was one thing besides that both of us had in common.

"You've played Star Fox 64, haven't you?" he asked me.

"Yeah, I've played it quite a lot. So have you, right?"

"That's right".

"You know, Zoness is one of my favorite levels in that game. I always loved trying to shoot down all of those searchlights, and the epic music...it's just awesome, isn't it?"

"Yeah" Cole replied.

We sat there in silence, not speaking for a while. Eventually, he said, "I think that it's time for us to get ready. Breakfast can't be too far from now, and if what Dr. Howler was saying is true, we'll want all of the preparation we can get. It's going to be one hell of a day".

* * *

Zoness is on the hard route of Star Fox 64. It used to be a tropical paradise. That was, until Andross came and dumped all sorts of toxic waste into the oceans. Now, the ocean is black streaked with jade green. Not a place to spend a holiday, especially if you're rich and can afford to go to the Caribbean or the Alps.

Searchlights are scattered throughout the ocean, and the beams are white until you are spotted by one, when they turn orange-red. If you do this, more enemies appear, and they make your life in the game a living hell. If you can make it through the level without that happening, the game allows you to go to Sector Z. If not, you will be fored to go to Macbeth.

In the game, this is also where Katt Monroe appears. However, as far as we knew, Katt was still on Corneria. With a personality somewhat similar to Dolores Umbridge, it was probably better that it stayed that way.

We touched down on top of a long, low building that was right on the beach. It really would have been quite a pleasant place to vacation back before it was completely trashed, but the past could not be changed. The future could be, however.

"I'm staying on board the ship for once" Dr. Howler said. "If one of you gets hurt and needs to be treated, ROB 64 can come out and collect that person. Plus, and I don't mean any offense with this, we can't let me get hurt. We really do need to be more careful, and it was quite stupid to have me taking part in the battles of Titania and Bolse".

None of us argued with that. Personally, I'd kind of been wondering about that myself. Why did we take such great risks by allowing Dr. Howler, potentially the most valuable member on our team of all, to join us in our life-threatening battles? We still needed her to bandage us up and stuff like that.

"Let's get going" Falco said. "We'll all get in our Arwings, and we'll fly low over the oceans of Zoness. Then, we'll kill the boss at the end, and we're one step closer to winning this war. You guys ready?"

* * *

 **IAN'S POV**

I'd been getting better at flying ever since we had left Fichina. In spite of this, I wasn't fully confident in my abilities yet, and I suspected that I would never be. At least, not without a _lot_ more practice.

As soon as we flew off of the building, I found myself having marginal difficulties in controlling the ship. I understood the basic principles of shifting the wheel, as well as your own weight, in the opposite direction as the one you wanted to go, but it wasn't the easiest to put into practice. I at least understood how to shoot the cannons.

The problem was really when I was close to the sea, say within fifteen feet or so. Whenever this happened, my Arwing would make plenty of weird jerking motions that made it feel like a roller coaster ride.

"Ian! Can you control your ship better? You almost rammed into me!" Konstantin shouted.

"I'm...trying!" I said through clenched teeth. It really wasn't easy.

"Everyone! Shut up!" Cole said. "We've got to focus on shooting down all of the searchlights!"

I looked around me and saw that he was right. Searchlights, with milky white beams, towered above the ocean, as much as twenty feet tall. I'd played the video game before, and I knew that it would be very difficult to hit _all_ of them.

"You take the left ones, Lucas! I've got the right!" That was Willow speaking. The couple from Maine seemed to be working well as a team, and I was only wondering how long that was going to last. I could sense the tension between them even as she was saying that.

However, for now it was working, and Lucas got the left searchlights easily. Willow had a little bit more trouble with those on the right, but she did manage to shoot them all down, meaning that, at least for now, we didn't have to deal with all of the extra enemies.

The farther away from the starting point we got, however, the harder it became to hit all of the searchlights. To make matters worse, there was no shortage of enemies, either. In fact, when I approached too close to the ground, I was shocked by a-

"Sea serpent, Ian!" Falco shouted. "Get out of the way!"

I barely managed to avoid clipping a wing on the snakelike creature as I swerved to the left to keep myself from hitting it. I couldn't afford to daydream now. Not when so much was at stake.

We continued flying low over the water, until Cole shouted, "I think that's something new up ahead! Let's take it out!"

Once again, Cole McCallen was right. What looked like an enormous enemy tanker was lying right in front of us. It was so massive that there was just no possible way we were going to get around it.

I instantly detonated a smart bomb, but it didn't seem to do anything. Were bombs useless against this thing? I really hoped not, or else we were going to be in big trouble. We couldn't fail to take Zoness and succeed in taking Venom. It just wasn't going to work that way.

"Let me do this!" Falco shouted.

Falco aimed a bomb at the smokestack of the tanker. Sure enough, the whole thing crumbled as though it was made out of wet sand. Really, that was pretty weak for an enemy ship.

"There's a ruined beach up ahead, so let's regroup there and make sure that we're all okay" the avian said through our communicators.

We all slowed down on the accelerators and made our way down to the beach. It was easy to see which one he was talking about, because it was literally right in front of us. Charred palm trees lined the small island, ringed by a small beach of black sand which had probably used to be white.

We touched down, and then Falco got out of his ship, looking at all of us.

* * *

 **COLE'S POV**

"I'm glad that we are all still alive" Falco said. "We just called this meeting to regroup and all that. How are you guys liking Zoness so far?"

"It's all right" I said, not wanting to sound like I hated this place. Granted, it _was_ an enemy base, so I had every right to dislike it, but I felt that openly expressing my hatred of it would sound rude, so I didn't.

"It's pretty disgusting" Konstantin said. "And this is coming from a guy who was imprisoned by Xenos underneath the mountain in Corneria".

I didn't really know what the word _Xenos_ meant, but if I took the root of the word I could probably guess what it was. Konstantin really was kind of an interesting person.

If you wanted to understand Konstantin Brockenbough, I had come to realize, you needed to realize what had happened to him. He had such a low view of the Cornerians due to the fact that he'd been living a very good life in Texas before this all happened. And it had been taken from him, and then he'd almost been executed. His anger might seem irrational, but it was really just righteous indignation at all of the situations he'd been in.

"I mean, I have really bad OCD, so...I'm not a fan of this environment" said Ian.

Lucas nodded, as though he agreed with everything Ian was saying. He said, "Yeah...not the biggest fan of this place either. But it's necessary for the war effort that we're here. We need to win this battle".

"I'm satisfied, now, that everyone here is alive and okay" Falco said. "Which means that it's time to get back in our ships. We can't stay here forever if we want to defeat the guardian of Zoness".

We all got back in our Arwings, preparing to have our lasers on hair-trigger for anything that came in our way.

* * *

We still had searchlights to contend with, so it was a good thing that we were always ready to shoot them down. We were, however, having some minor arguments about who was going to take which ones.

"You take the left, I've got the right!" I shouted at Ian.

"No, I'm already taking the right!" he yelled back in his very autistic voice. Honestly, that voice was starting to annoy me a little. I knew that it wasn't his fault, but still. He kind of reminded me of Slippy Toad. And trust me, that's _not_ a complimentary comparison.

I barely avoided missing another searchlight as a result of my annoyance, but I was luckily able to get my ship back on track. I knew that if we were spotted, we would have a lot more enemies. Hopefully, we'd be able to go to Sector Z instead of Macbeth in real life, but I didn't want to risk that.

Unfortunately, we _would_ end up risking that. Because, in my annoyance at the fact that Ian was unable to speak like I considered a normal human being, I just missed hitting another searchlight. As a result, a loud alarm noise rang out through the smoggy air.

"Did you-" Falco began.

"Yes, I missed a searchlight! What are you going to do, shoot me?" I asked a little bit defiantly.

Before Falco could respond, probably in the negative, the beams that the searchlights produced had turned from their milky white color to an orangish red. Or it was a reddish orange, maybe #E03500, also known as Harley Davidson Orange. I didn't know how I could identify the hex colors that easily, but I didn't really care at the moment either. Reason being, we were now facing a _lot_ more enemies.

All sorts of butterfly-like enemies came out of the smoggy sky, seemingly out of nowhere. My lasers were once again on hair-trigger, so that I could shoot all of them down. After all, I'd gotten us into this mess, so I felt a moral responsibility to get us out of it. That was just the way it was.

Still, red-hot guilt was bubbling in my chest. _I_ was the one who had just potentially sabotaged our mission. It might have been on accident, but that probably didn't change the others' opinion of it. I should have been more careful to hit all of the searchlights.

Even so, the fact that I was responsible sent more adrenaline coursing through my veins. I was able to pilot my ship a lot better, but I didn't focus on shooting the searchlights. There was no point, now that the Venomian forces would already know that we were there. Instead, I just focused on making sure that none of the enemies were able to shoot down our ships.

"Fuck you, Cole!" Konstantin shouted. I could tell that he didn't really hate _me,_ just the fact that I'd been so careless. Which I didn't blame him for.

Lucas grunted, but I hoped that he wasn't too mad at me. Mistakes happen, but this was a pretty big one. It could potentially sink this whole thing.

"We've got to keep going, everyone" Falco said. "We can't let these enemies shoot us down, and the boss isn't too far ahead. Once we do that, we can head towards Sector Z. I don't think it works the same way this time around".

Of course, when Falco was done saying that, I noticed that there was an enemy on his tail. Wanting to make up for my costly mistake earlier, I used the boost to chase it before shooting the enemy down.

"Thanks, Cole!" Falco said.

"You're more than welcome" I said back.

It wasn't the easiest thing to stay in the air. The toxic sea was practically pulling you towards its depths, and I wondered if that was a result of the toxic waste that Andross and his army had dumped in here eleven years ago. I had to constantly be pushing the wheel back downwards, in order to keep my Arwing stable. I didn't want to drown in the green-and-black sea.

We kept on going, shooting down enemies wherever they came. I was getting the hang of this despite not having the most practice in the world. In fact, it was getting to a point that I felt like it was cancelling out some of the guilt I still felt for not hitting that searchlight, causing us to end up in this mess.

Eventually, we reached a spot where there were about twelve barrels in the water, spaced about fifty yards apart from each other. I kind of remembered these from the game, and I got the feeling that I was supposed to shoot them or something. After all, these _would_ be enemies, right? That just made so much sense that it was practically undeniable for me.

"Don't shoot, Cole!" Falco cried.

Unfortunately, I understood too late. As soon as I shot one of the blades, there was an explosion that sent a column of fire into the air. I tried to avoid it, but it hit my ship pretty hard. Trying to right it, I realized that there was nothing I could do. This thing was going to make me fall into the water, where I would be at the mercy of whatever monsters were in its depths.

"No!" Jack shouted, but I barely heard him. My ship plummeted into the water, and everything went black. The last thing I remember is thinking about just how _stupid_ I was.

* * *

 **JACK'S POV**

Everything seemed to happen so fast. Cole was shooting at all of the enemies, no doubt to make up for missing the searchlight. However, it had ultimately backfired, his strategy of always having his fingers on the trigger.

Because, as soon as he had shot down the barrel, the pillar of fire that had come left no doubt in my mind that the barrels were explosives. Cole had just taken the bait, as his ship tumbled into the ocean.

"Don't worry!" Falco said loudly, in a tone that did not fit at all with his words. "ROB 64, our robot on the ship, is going to send his ship into maintenance. And, if he's severely injured, he'll be taken to med bay, where Dr. Howler is waiting for anyone who needs her services. It's going to be fine".

And yet, I had a feeling that it would not be. There was something ominous ahead of us, something in the air that my senses, honed from years of being in the military, could detect. Was this the guardian of Zoness?

Before I could speak, to say anything at all about it, an enemy tanker rose up from the ground. It was made of rusted red paint and what looked like scrap metal, probably from being in the toxic ocean for so long. A large spiked ball hung from the inside of a tube on the top of the submarine, and I could tell that it was about to go after us. There were two large exhaust vents on both sides of it, and two pipes reached up from the top like the horns of a bull.

Now, this thing was going to charge at us like a bull.

* * *

"Disrespectful little whelps!" shouted a voice on my intercom.

I could see a holographic image of a monkey with a head wrapped in a turban of bandages. For all the world, he looked like Dengar from Star Wars.

"I remember this guy!" Lucas said. "He can only be destroyed with bombs, but the exhaust pipes provide them if you shoot down the cannonballs!"

"I'll teach ye some respect!" yelled the commander of the submarine.

I was a little skeptical of Lucas's instructions. After all, _I_ was the person qualified to do this, and yet this sixteen-year-old was giving me orders? Only the morality of the mission prevented me from striking him down right there.

Okay, not really. But still, it was quite annoying.

In any case, I shot a smart bomb at the left exhaust pipe. To my surprise, it worked, and the exhaust pipe sank into the toxic sea. The commander of the sub let out a few choice words before shooting cannonballs out of the remaining exhaust pipe.

Willow helped to shoot down the cannonballs and collected the bombs that it gave her. "I'm going to bomb the other exhaust pipe now!" she said.

"Adjust 10 degrees right! Fire!" shouted the monkey.

I was able to avoid the cannons, allowing Willow to fire the bomb that destroyed the second exhaust pipe.

Grunting in frustration, the monkey said, "Aarh! Drop the crane now!"

The mace struck Konstantin's ship, but only by a little bit. He didn't take nearly as much damage as Cole had, which was a good thing. We needed him to be all right, since he was a valuable member of our team.

After saying "Drop the crane now!", the submarine turned ninety degrees clockwise and lowered the crane. However, it was pretty easy for Ian and Konstantin's smart bombs to take it down.

After another quick yell of frustration, the submarine sank into the sea, just as quickly as it had come up. We'd done it. Zoness was pretty much ours.

Before we could celebrate, I knew that I had to make sure that another member of our team was all right. "ROB, what is the status of Cole McCallen? Is he all right?"

A robotic voice coming from the Great Fox said, "Cole McCallen's ship is in for repairs. Cole McCallen is in med bay".

"Good" Konstantin said. "He's all right".

"Let's get back to the ship, boys. I'm sure that we need to talk about how things went today" Falco said.

* * *

 **COLE'S POV**

Every muscle in my body, every appendage, was aching as though it had been beaten by a gang back in Detroit. Believe me, that was something I had experienced before. It was a struggle to open my eyes.

Once I did manage to do so, I saw that I was in the med bay of the Great Fox. There were a surprisingly low number of bandages on me, meaning that I had relatively few scrapes, cuts, and bruises. That was a relief.

I saw that Falco and Dr. Howler were standing over me. The avian looked kind of smug, with an "I Told You So" expression on his face. The Bengal tiger, on the other hand, had her usual mother hen expression, like she was genuinely concerned about me. Which, based on what I knew about Dr. Howler, was most likely the case.

"How are you doing, Cole?" she asked me.

"It hurts a lot. I don't want to do that anytime soon...by which I mean, whatever I just did. What _did_ just happen to me?"

"You shot at a barrel in the water, which was part of a trap sent by the Sarumarine. It exploded, causing you to crash. Your ship is in for repairs right now" Falco said.

"You're **incredibly** lucky, Cole" Dr. Howler said. "All you have is a minor concussion, a sprained ankle, and some bruising in your legs. While you were unconscious, I administered the same injection that I gave Lucas after he was shot, just a weaker version of the same drug".

"Why didn't you inject Lucas with it immediately? Or give me the stronger one?" I asked, a little bit angrily.

"The strong version of the drug can cause severe pain, which would have hurt quite a lot had you come to in the middle of it. It literally feels like your blood is boiling. Also, I only ever had one dose of that. They're very expensive, and they don't keep for very long".

"So...I'll get better pretty quickly, right?" I asked her.

Dr. Howler pursed her lips. "Yes, but you won't be able to take part in the battle of Sector Z tomorrow. I absolutely forbid it. Those legs need to _rest,_ and you need to heal up. It's not good to have a concussed person be doing something so dangerous".

I tried to protest, but Dr. Howler said, "You know that we have your best interests at heart. We are kind of like the chaperones of the Star Enfield team during the war, and we will decide what is okay for you to do, and what is not. Do you understand me?"

I nodded.

"It's getting close to time for dinner" Falco said. "You can come, you'll need some nourishment to help heal from your wounds. Plus, the drug is going to _start_ hurting if you don't eat, so it's best that you do. Cole, are you going to dine with us? We'll like you to participate in the strategy meeting".

I nodded again and smiled. "I thought you'd never ask".

* * *

We gathered around the dinner table. Lucas, Willow, Ian, Jack, and Konstantin looked no worse for the battle, so all eyes seemed to be on me as the only injured member of the group.

"So...how was the battle after I got taken back here?" I asked through a mouthful of my burger.

"Cole, don't talk with your mouth full" Jack said. My face turned red at being reprimanded like a little kid.

"Sorry" I said.

"We got the Sarumarine taken care of, and we have a team moving in to retake the enemy base" said Dr. Howler. "We really did a good job on Zoness; proud of you guys for that".

"Yeah" said Jack. "These kids did great".

"I'm not a kid anymore, I'm almost 20 years old" Konstantin said. "And the others are _at least_ fifteen each. We're not _kids,_ Jack".

"I know, but once you get to my age, you guys are kids in comparison".

"Whatever" Ian said. "I'm nineteen".

I was a little surprised by that. If Ian really was 19, he looked a little young for his age. But I suppose that didn't really matter too much.

"In any case", said Falco, "we're going to be heading to Sector Z tomorrow. Once we've gotten that sector back from the Venomian forces, we can head to Macbeth, and, after that, it's straight to Area 6. Then Venom. We really don't have too far to go".

"It feels like it's been forever since we left Corneria" Dr. Howler said, holding Falco's hand. They were sitting right next to each other.

"I know, Tigre, but it's just been four weeks. Can you believe that?"

I couldn't believe that Falco had just called Dr. Howler by her first name. It seemed like the two of them had gotten much closer together over the last few weeks. Was there something between them that I didn't know about?

I decided not to ask. It wasn't my top concern, after all.

What I was most pissed about was the fact that I couldn't take part in tomorrow's battle. But Dr. Howler was adamant about it, so that was just what was going to happen.

* * *

 **WILLOW'S POV**

The next morning, we all got ready for yet another battle. The orange Z in the background of Sector Z was very much visible, and we were fully aware of what had given the sector its name. It didn't take a Sherlock Holmes to figure it out, after all.

As I got into my Arwing, I was only too aware of the absence of one Cole McCallen. Due to his concussion and bruises, Dr. Howler wasn't letting him take part in this battle. I was kind of glad he wasn't with us, to be honest. He wasn't going to be an asset today.

"Hey, guys...I think there's something on the horizon!" Ian said loudly.

"I think those are Copperhead missiles! Or, that is one of them" Falco replied.

In the game, the Copperhead missiles are sent by Andross to attack the Great Fox in Sector Z, the fifth level in the hard route. If you fail to defend the ship from the missiles, you are sent to Bolse and thus the bad ending of the game. I didn't know what would happen here, but it would make it very difficult to attack Venom if our ship was compromised.

"I'll take it!" I said.

I didn't know precisely why I volunteered. I suppose that I had just felt that I had sort of been in the background more than I liked to be. And I'm not a shy person, not by a long shot. I was determined to be one of the main people helping.

I flew towards the missile. It was long and thin, much like a candle on a birthday cake. In this case, the cake would have been the Great Fox, so this was one candle that you did _not_ want to light a menorah with. This would probably burn up the whole synagogue.

"Get this Xeno off my tail!" Konstantin yelled.

"I'll get it!" Lucas said. "Willow, just focus on the missile for now!"

"What made you become so demanding all of a sudden?" I said, but I kept at it.

 **"Missile approaching. Distance 50"** said the robotic voice of ROB 64.

"Oh, shut up" I said, taking the thing out with a smart bomb.

"Nice job, Willow" Lucas said through the communicator.

"There's no time to celebrate" Falco said. "Everyone, shoot down the enemies".

Ian, on the other hand, was the one who actually came up with a strategy. And it was a pretty good one, too.

"How about us boys work on the enemies, while you and Willow take down the missiles?"

* * *

Ian's idea worked like a charm. Even though it was only him, Lucas, and Konstantin shooting down the normal enemies, there were few enough of them that it didn't pose too much of a problem for the boys. This left me to shoot down the missiles, with Falco serving as backup in order to take some of the burden off of my shoulders.

"I fought the Copperhead missiles before, during the First Lylat War" Falco said. "They come in three waves. There's one missile first, then two, and then the last wave has three. They should be coming about now".

As if on cue, ROB 64 said, **"Missiles 2 and 3 approaching".**

"Okay, Willow. There's an enemy on your tail, but go for the missiles. I'll take care of it!"

There was an enemy on my tail? I didn't hear it, and, even though the Great Fox did allow you to see what was behind you, the ship must have blended in with the darkness of space. Or maybe the radiation made it invisible. I wasn't sure.

The two Copperhead missiles were a ways away from the Great Fox still, and moving pretty slowly. I wondered why the ship didn't just _move_. Maybe it wouldn't be fast enough, or the missiles would keep tailing it. Again, I didn't know.

I'd been saying that to myself a lot lately. _I don't know._

I shot at the missile with everything I had, and it began to flash. After what felt like a hundred shots, but was probably something more like twenty or thirty, it exploded, removing it as a threat to the ship. As soon as I had shot that one down, I barely missed hitting the last one. It still took me a while to turn around, so I was really counting on Falco to get the other one in the second wave.

 **"Missile approaching. Distance 50"** came the robotic voice of ROB 64.

"I'm heading for it, as soon as I help the boys with a couple of enemies" Falco said.

I felt a spark of irritation hit me. This was a pretty time-sensitive mission, so I really needed Falco to help me with the missiles _now._ I wasn't sure how long it would take for the missile to reach the Great Fox from Distance 50, and I hoped I wasn't about to find out.

Finally managing to turn around, I shot at the missile, but I only got a few of them in.

Elsewhere, I saw Falco shoot an enemy off of Ian's tail, and then he circled around to get closer to the missile. It was about time, because...

 **"Missile approaching. Distance 20".**

Falco also missed the missile at first, but he turned around quickly and fired at the missile. Judging by the sheer amount of lasers coming from his ship, I could tell that he was most likely mashing the button with all of his might.

 **"Distance 10. Unable to evade".**

My heart stopped, but Falco managed to get his last shot in at the very last second. I let out the breath that I had been holding.

"That was _too_ close, Willow" Konstantin said.

"Don't blame me, blame Falco!" I said. "He's the one who insisted on going after the enemies on Ian's tail! That really wasn't a good idea, it almost got the Great Fox destroyed!"

Meanwhile, Lucas and Konstantin were both tag-teaming an enemy ship. I'd seen this ship before on Titania, and there was no question in my mind as to what it was. A Wolfen. Meaning that a member of Star Wolf was here.

"Fuck you, Wolf!" Konstantin shouted. The voice from inside the ship laughed. Our communications were all linked to one another, so we could hear everything that everyone else on our team was saying. Perhaps this also applied to enemies.

"I'm not Wolf O'Donnell" said a voice that I recognized as belonging to Leon Powalski. The chameleon was here too. Great.

"Well, I'm still going to kill you!" Konstantin said.

I tried to distract myself from that by focusing on the other task at hand. According to Falco, the last three missiles came in a single wave. That would mean...

 **"Missiles 4, 5, and 6 approaching"** said ROB 64.

Looking out at the expanses of Sector Z, and avoiding the various chunks of debris that were present, I saw the three missiles, ready to set the Great Fox aflame. I couldn't let that happen. It had almost happened just a few minutes ago, after all.

Without thinking, I shot a smart bomb at the missiles. It actually did manage to destroy one of them, but the other two were still intact. Getting one of the three missiles was something, but it wouldn't be enough to protect the ship if we couldn't get the other two.

"I'll take them, Willow!" Falco said. He immediately swerved to get them. I tried to tell him that I wanted to work on the missiles as well, but he wasn't hearing any of it. Sighing in annoyance, I went to go after some of the other enemies.

A minute later, I heard the two explosions that meant that Falco had managed to finish off both of the other missiles.

"Did you get all of them? I asked him unnecessarily.

"Yeah! Let's just take down all of these enemy ships, and then we're going to be good!"

My heart leapt. All we had to do was get all of these bad guys, and then we would have won the battle of Sector Z.

As I looked around, however, I realized that this was kind of a tall order. The enemy ships were scattered all over the sector, and some of them were hidden right now by the spots of space junk floating around.

However, you should never underestimate the power of three teenage boys shooting at enemies. They had probably taken care of most of them in the two minutes it took for me to really enter the fray.

"We're almost done, Willow!" Lucas shouted in triumph. Really, he had reason to be glad. We just had Sector Z, and then we could go to Macbeth.

After a few more shots, and explosions of enemy ships, Falco announced that it was enough. "Let's go back to the docking bay, guys. We've gotten pretty much all of them".

* * *

Back on the Great Fox, Cole was very disappointed. "I wish I could've been a part of that battle! Sounds like it was fun".

Lucas shook his head. "Really, Cole, it was nothing spectacular. Just a few Copperhead missiles and enemy ships flying around. Plus, you weren't considered well enough. Dr. Howler, will Cole be allowed to take part on Macbeth?"

Dr. Howler nodded. "It depends on how he's feeling then, but I think that he will probably have made enough of a recovery by that point that it shouldn't be too much of a problem. We will reach Macbeth...when is it, Jack? What's our ETA?"

"About two days from now" Jack said. "It's March 3 right now, so March 5 is our estimated date of arrival. I don't know how long it will take to take Macbeth, since it's the main supply for the Anglar forces. It might be a pretty complicated situation there, so it's best that we give all of you guys briefings about it tomorrow, before we get there".

All right. We were going to go to Macbeth next. And, hopefully, it would be just as successful as the last two battles had been.

* * *

 **Again, the outline for this chapter made me think that it might be 9,000 words. It's not even seven thousand, at least at the time of me beginning this author's note. There were 35 items in my outline, which has produced a 9,000-word chapter before (Chapter 10 of Book 1).**

 **In any case, I'm hoping that you guys review this chapter to tell me what you thought about it.**


	13. The Forever Train

**Yesterday, I received a review for user "Spiritual-Sister" which I cannot address through PM. I will just say it aloud here: Proselytizing is not appreciated in reviews to my story. If you really want to win me to Jesus, just PM me and try to persuade me to stake my eternal soul on Christianity. That will be far more effective than reviewing my story and not having PM enabled.**

 **To clarify: I identify as agnostic rather than atheist, but God's not going to help me get the next chapter out. It's MY effort, and I'm taking credit for it.**

 **Ah...the much-anticipated battle of Macbeth! Yes, that will be contained within this chapter. I will also be including various references to the play by Shakespeare, much like were included in the game. Okay, the game didn't have too much. But, still, those who have read/watched the play, I hope that you appreciate it.**

 **If parts where they are dancing to "Sugar, We're Goin' Down" look a little choppy, there is a reason. The lyrics were originally there, but I removed them. I don't want this story deleted any more than you guys. In fact, I want it LESS than you guys. Fanfiction is my life.**

 **And yeah, I really did enjoy putting in all of those Shakespeare references.**

* * *

 **LUCAS'S POV**

Two days later, the Great Fox came within range of Macbeth. After putting the landing gear down, we got off and appraised the new landscape.

The whole time, I was thinking about the play by William Shakespeare, a great tragedy indeed. It didn't seem like a very auspicious name for a place where we were going to have what was arguably the most important mission other than Venom. The Venomian weapons factory was located on this planet.

The play _Macbeth_ is about a military general of the same name, who is given a prophecy by a trio of witches that he is going to become the king of Scotland. Determined to make it come true, he kills the sitting King Duncan and takes the throne. However, he soon finds himself forced to commit more and more murders in order to defend himself from suspicion.

Eventually, this strategy backfires, as people realize that he is a dangerous person to be around. He kills the family of Macduff, another nobleman, which causes Macduff to lead an army against him. Macbeth is told that not until Birnam Wood comes to Dunsinane, his estate, he cannot be harmed, and he can't be killed by any man born of a woman. This reassures him, but when the army advances each soldier takes the bough of a tree and carries it up to the battle. Not only that, but Macduff tells Macbeth that he was born via Caesarean section, so he was not "born of a woman" in the technical sense. As a result of this, the witches' prophecies come true, and he is slain.

Based on that, I figured that I had reason not to be optimistic about what was going to be going on on this planet. I just didn't think things could go right.

The Great Fox touched down in the middle of a village called Cawdor. It was basically just tents that had been set up by members of the Lylatian army, trying to find a way to get into the weapons factory and have a shot at taking the planet back from the Anglars.

So far, however, none of this had come to any fruition at all. To make matters worse, with every day that went by, the Venomians were shoring up their defenses even more, in order to ensure that this was going to be impossible.

 _No._ I couldn't think like that. I could never think of taking Macbeth as impossible, because if that was the case, we could never win this war. But it was a tall order, given that the enemy base, known as Dunsinane, was fifty miles from Cawdor.

Fifty. Miles. Just put that in perspective.

It might not seem too long when you're thinking of something like the distance between planets in the Lylat System, but that's when you are thinking of traveling in the Great Fox. Here, we just had the Landmaster and some Arwings. While the latter could move pretty fast, it was inadvisable to do so this close to the ground. That was just a fact of life when you were trying to do something on Macbeth.

The general environment in Cawdor was miserable. Like I said, it was made up of communities of tents propped up with pillars made of rock mined from the nearby mountains. Even though there were plenty of mines near Cawdor, they didn't produce nearly as much as tunnels like Birnamwood and Dunsinane did.

Cole and I were staying in a tent with Willow and Dr. Howler, while Falco, Ian, Konstantin, and Jack got another. We were allowed to share the canned food that the people of Cawdor ate, and we all ate breakfast together outdoors, the radiation being pretty manageable.

As soon as I saw my bed, however, I knew that I was not going to enjoy my stay in this village no matter how hard I might try. For one, it was just a small mattress on the floor, much like at a hotel when there's one more person than the number of beds in your room. Plus, I knew that I was not going to have very many private moments with Willow here, just because of the whole fact that Cole and Dr. Howler were present. While Cole might have respected our privacy, the Bengal tiger would want to make sure that we were not...doing something else with each other. Yeah, that's the mildest way I could think of to put it.

In short, no, this wasn't the best place to have personal discussions about our relationship. Not when we were living in such close quarters.

Of course, not everything about being on Macbeth was bad. Even though the air was dusty sometimes, it was still a lot fresher than that on the Great Fox, or even the underground base on Fichina. Every day, we would eat breakfast on a picnic blanket, so even though it was cereal and canned pineapple, it felt a lot more fulfilling than it was. In addition, we got to trade stories with the other people in the village, but I tended to be evasive in general. I'd only state my name, Lucas Enfield, and talk a little bit about my own interests. Who knew if maybe they were Venomian spies in disguise?

In addition, the mountain air was a cool, crisp temperature at this time of year, and the wind often caused my jacket to billow around me like a cloak. It really added quite a cool effect.

* * *

The first evening we were there, Falco and Jack went over the map of Macbeth with us.

Dunsinane, the enemy base, lay fifty miles down the train tracks, way beyond the reach of the Landmaster. It would take it a good hour and a half to reach it, but that might be our best option.

"There are eight switches around here on the map" Falco said, tracing his finger along a specific part of the tracks that was probably about twenty miles away from Cawdor. "If we hit all of them, the train is going to crash right into a base filled with explosives. If not, it's still 30 miles to Dunsinane, but we can defeat it along the way. We kind of _have_ to, in order to win this war.

"The most dangerous part of the path is Birnamwood Tunnel. There will be a lot of things there that are made to trip us up, for certain. Beams jutted out of the walls the last time the Star Fox team tackled Macbeth, and we have no reason to think that it will be any different this time".

Of course, Falco was able to say this for certain because he _had_ been a part of the second Star Fox team eleven years ago. That one had consisted of him, Fox McCloud, Slippy Toad, and Peppy Hare, who was also a member of the team betrayed by Pigma Dengar.

As a result of this, my dreams on the first night in Macbeth were filled with images of James McCloud getting betrayed by Pigma and dying in a massive explosion on Venom. I woke up in a cold sweat, which the dry air quickly whisked off of my body. It wasn't _as_ bad as Titania, but it wasn't that pleasant. In addition, it got very cold at night, which brought back not-so-pleasant memories of being trapped underneath ice with Fox McCloud.

Over breakfast the next morning, we had quite a few more conversations about matters related to taking the base.

"I think we should go through Birnamwood Tunnel" Cole said. "That's the quickest route".

Cole had been judged healthy enough to take part in battles once again by Dr. Howler, so his life had a stake in this. He wasn't simply making this decision on behalf of us.

"Birnamwood Tunnel is pretty direct, but it's also narrow" Ian said. "The Landmaster might not fit in there with the train, and there's the minor matter of how long it's going to take".

"We have plenty of time, Ian" Dr. Howler said. "As much time as we need, provided that Corneria doesn't get overrun by the Anglars during that time, which doesn't seem to have happened. I think things are going to be just fine".

And so the conversation went on and on. The strategy discussion seemed never-ending, until Willow finally brought up the idea of her and me going out to see how we could sneak into Birnamwood Tunnel. We were going to fly the Arwings down the train tracks, just to see if we could figure out a way in.

"That sounds all right" Falco said. "Just make sure that you guys stay safe, because I'd rather not have one of you die before the _real_ fun begins. And believe me, the battle is going to be _fun_ , I'd hate for you to miss out on it".

"All right" I said. "We will".

* * *

And so, around two that afternoon, Willow and I got into our Arwings and began flying along the train tracks. It had been some time since I'd gotten to be alone with her, so I welcomed it. It wasn't just that, but flying in itself was such an exhilarating feeling that I wanted more of it. I really did.

"How are you liking Macbeth, Willow?" I asked her as we flew over one of the many small hills on the planet.

"It's all right, Lucas. It really brings out the blue in your eyes".

"Oh, shut up" I said, trying not to laugh.

"It's true, though. All of this brown and grey...you know, this place is really nice. The air is so fresh, even though Venom has their weapons factory here.

"It's like Swanville, Lucas. It's like... _home"._

It was hard for me to control the Arwing after that, I felt such emotion come from Willow's voice. We hadn't talked about our former hometown that much. After all, it had been nearly three months since we had seen it, and our little trip to Cartagena, while it had given us some hope in the possibility of one day returning home, hadn't really been enough to figure out how we were going to get there.

"You know...there's a portal back to Maine above Corneria" I said, remembering the ride we had taken in order to get into this alternate dimension. "Maybe, after this war is over...we can find a time to get back to Swanville...".

As soon as I said it, I regretted it. I didn't really want to face my parents again. Even if them selling me to the Grey Clouds Flight Academy had been necessary for the Cornerians to win their war against the Anglar forces, I was still resentful about that. Perhaps I would be for the rest of my life. Whether that was for another eighty years or another eight hours, I didn't know.

"You know, I'm not sure that's such a good idea..." Willow said, trailing off.

"What? Why not?"

"Never mind" she said, sounding rather crestfallen.

"No, I want to know. I'm your _boyfriend,_ I think I have the right to know".

Willow said, "You know, I'm not the biggest fan of my stepfather. He's not abusive or anything, he's just not my favorite person. And my mother...she sold me to the GCFA. I' not eager to go home".

"Our home right now is the Great Fox. Or maybe Corneria" I said.

"Not Fichina?" she said, chuckling good-naturedly.

"No, not Fichina" I said, remembering Wolf shooting me in the leg and slicing my arm to ribbons. I wasn't eager to repeat the experience.

Before Willow could respond, there was the sound of cannons coming from far away. It sounded like it was a ways to the left of us.

"What was _that?_ " I asked.

"I don't know, but let's get out of here!" Willow practically shrieked.

We quickly turned around and headed out of the mountains. We'd only made it five miles or so down the tracks, but even though Dunsinane was still 45 miles away, there were enemy cannons _this close_ to Cawdor. Was the makeshift village even safe where it was?

"Use the boost, Willow!" I said.

"When did you become so demanding?" she asked indignantly.

There was no time for any of that, though. We quickly reached a flowery field, at which we got out of our ships and made sure that we were safe from the cannons here. After all, we were probably seven miles or so from the village of Cawdor.

We looked at each other a little awkwardly, just like it would be normal for after a minor argument like the one we had just had. Willow pulled out her iPhone.

"Are we seriously going to..." I began to ask.

"Yep" Willow said.

* * *

Willow went to her Fall Out Boy playlist and selected the song that she wanted to play. Then, she took my hands in hers and allowed the song to begin.

I knew this song. It's called "Sugar, We're Going Down", and it's considered one of the band's best songs. It's a nice, catchy summer rock anthem...about unrequited love and a stalkermance. In keeping with the theme of happy-sounding songs that aren't actually happy, Willow chose this one.

I picked some flowers and poured them over her head like she was in a shower. In response, she did the same to me. Soon, we were rolling on the ground, laughing, spreading dandelion feathers all over the place. And the song was only half over, too.

If one of the Anglars was flying over this part of Macbeth at this very moment, I wondered what they would think when they saw this.

This was one of the best parts of the song, in my opinion. I could tell that Willow was having a great time dancing to it. I knew I was, even though it's not a happy song in the least.

After this, the chorus just repeated on and on as we continued to dance.

"You know, that was fun" I said, beginning to walk back towards my Arwing.

"Are we leaving already? I want to spend more time here!" Willow said. To me, it sounded rather like a child who doesn't want to take a bath.

"Look. The others are going to be worried, because we were gone so long, and they might have even heard the cannons, because those things were _loud._ I really do think that we should head back".

Willow relented, and we both got in our Arwings and flew back to the village of Cawdor.

* * *

 **JACK'S POV**

"I've found the way!" I said triumphantly.

It had been two days since Lucas and Willow had flown their Arwings along the tracks, looking for a way in, and gotten shot at by the cannons. Since then, we hadn't made much progress. Things had been getting more and more bleak. Right now, Corneria might be getting overrun by the Venomian forces. It was entirely possible.

I didn't want to let that happen, so I had been scrutinizing that map from the moment I woke to the moment I slept. In addition, I'd become an expert at barrel rolls and other evasive maneuvers. I had to, because of the fact that there were plenty of cannons there to shoot me out of the sky.

In the time that I had been looking over the map on the morning of March 8, over a breakfast of canned peaches, I'd found a weakness in Dunsinane. It was right on the way there, and so we were going to go after it with everything we had.

"Sounds dangerous" Ian said, as if he was being skeptical of my expertise.

"I know what I'm doing, I've done things like this before" I said to him, trying to assuage his fears. To be honest, however, I was a little nervous myself. This was going to be the most pivotal moment in the war thus far. I knew that we'd already taken Titania, Bolse, Zoness, and Sector Z, so losing Macbeth wouldn't be too big of a problem for us. But the other side already _held_ Macbeth, so we could turn their own weaponry against them.

So, no pressure.

The real risk was that we would get killed by the Forever Train, the name that was given to the train that travelled from Cawdor and through Birnamwood Tunnel to Dunsinane. It had the ability to detach the cars in the back, which would allow the train to move faster. It could also release boulders, which we had all gone over.

I walked them through the route we would take, while showing them all of the places where we might get tripped up. Then, we went over the basic plans of the mission to take Dunsinane. This was the strategy:

Lucas and Dr. Howler were going to stay behind. We needed medical support just in case, and Lucas just didn't seem like the right person for this mission. His legs would not fit comfortably into the Landmaster, even though he was 6'2" to my 6'5". They might end up coming in one of the spare Arwings if there was any trouble on the way to Dunsinane, but they were staying in Cawdor for now.

Willow, Cole, and myself would be piloting the Landmaster, with Cole manning the cannons, myself steering, and Willow peering out to give us directions. I figured that this way, things would be easier to accomplish, because I truly felt that each person was the best at their respective job we'd assigned them. Ian, Falco, and Konstantin were going to give us air support in the Arwings, flying alongside us on the path to Dunsinane.

That was our current plan. Of course, plans could change, but this was what we were going to do for now.

* * *

The following morning, we set out in our respective vehicles. We all made sure that we were all doing okay, and then we almost immediately came across an immovable stone gate. Those in Arwings could fly over it easily, and the Landmaster could hover, but not high enough to get over the gate.

"Let me help you with that!" Konstantin said from above us. I saw lasers come from his ship, and the gate was destroyed. Now, we could pass through.

"Thanks, Konstantin!" Cole said. The Texan had just been a very big help to us, eliminating one of our biggest obstacles to making it to Dunsinane.

"No problem! It's only about ten miles until Birnamwood Tunnel, and then another ten to the switches. Good luck, guys".

We continued on the path for another several miles, Willow helping us navigate the whole time. I knew that this wasn't going to be a cakewalk, though. Sooner or later, we would have to face enemies.

After what I estimated was five miles or so, a voice with what sounded like a Southern accent said, "Here come the little hyenas, now!"

My heart started pounding. The Forever Train had appeared.

There were quite a few cars on the freight train, and each of them no doubt contained many boulders that could be used to trip us up. We had to tread carefully around this thing. It was trundling along the tracks like it was from the 1800s, so I wasn't too concerned about keeping up with it, _if_ we could just hover over all of the rocks.

"Let's shoot down those freight cars, guys!" Falco said. Apparently, he'd done this before, so I didn't question him. I ordered Cole to start shooting, which, when coupled with lasers from Falco and Konstantin, made it very easy to destroy the first boxcar. It took almost no effort at all.

But then, we came across a causeway that went over a small canyon. The train could only go over the causeway, while we could choose whether to take the high road or the low road.

"I say we go low" Willow said. "I don't think we can fit there with the train; it's pretty narrow".

"I agree" said Cole.

Even if I had _wanted_ to stay next to the tracks, I was outvoted. I could have used my veto power as the leader, but there really wasn't time to do so, so we just went into the canyon.

"Take _this_!" said the conductor of the Forever Train. He was the one who had the Southern accent that I spoke of earlier.

Immediately, the door of the boxcar opened and dropped about a dozen boulders that rolled down the hill towards us.

"Hover!" Cole said desperately.

I did so, and we were barely able to avoid getting the Landmaster destroyed or severely damaged. We didn't have to do a barrel roll, though.

"There's a tunnel up ahead! Is that Birnamwood?" Willow asked.

I looked out the window and, just like Willow had said, there was a tunnel coming up. When I looked at it, I saw that it was just barely wide enough for the train, which meant that it could fit the Landmaster slightly comfortably, but not with too much wiggle room.

"Okay!" Cole said. "Hover over all of those things that jut out from the wall!"

I once again hovered above the obstacles as we continued through Birnamwood Tunnel, always maintaining a distance of about ten meters behind the train. I knew that if we got too close to it, the Landmaster could take a lot of damage. Therefore, it was best to stay safe.

* * *

 **IAN'S POV**

Birnamwood Tunnel went on for what must have been at least twenty minutes. It was rather boring, waiting on top of the tunnel for those in the Landmaster to reach the other end, but that was our only option. We didn't have to be seeing where they were going to have a general idea. The tunnel was not soundproof.

Far more important was it to see each other when we had gotten to the other end of the tunnel. There, we had to shoot down the eight switches, as well as the ninth switch that appeared after shooting the first eight. In the game, this is how you get to Area 6 from Macbeth, instead of simply shooting the boss to death.

"All right!" Jack said from below us. "We're through the tunnel. Why don't you guys help shoot down the switches? Cole tells me that's the best way to get them to crash into Dunsinane".

"Will do, Jack!" Konstantin said. Falco, him, and myself were now orienting ourselves based on the positions of the 8 switches. If we were too careless with this, and missed a switch or two, we would still be able to get the train to reach Dunsinane, but it would take another thirty miles, not time that we wanted to waste if we could help it.

I managed to shoot the first switch, with Falco taking the second. Switches one and two were the easiest ones to get. Switches 3 and 4 were on opposite sides of the track and, to make matters worse, Switch 4 was elevated on top of a cinderblock cube. This made it a lot easier to get from the air.

"Shoot three, I'll take four, Konstantin!" Falco barked at the Texan.

Both of them managed to succeed in getting the switches, but then came the voice of the conductor.

"I didn't expect to have to use _this!_ " he said in his Southern accent.

And then he deployed the robot, which is called Mechbeth. We still had four switches to go, but our task would be made that much more difficult by the fact that we now had this thing to avoid. You could just shoot it down, but it would distract you from hitting the switches.

Switches 5 and 6 went just fine, but the real snag hit when we reached the last two switches. Konstantin, charged with Switch 7, missed it by an inch.

"Fuck!" he yelled. I could have said the same thing, but I wanted to seem like the better person in this scenario. I didn't want Falco mad with me as well.

The train began to slow down, but it didn't matter too much. As we passed the ninth switch, we saw that we were now going to continue on the slower road to Dunsinane. We had to survive all the way there.

I was pretty mad at Konstantin. It would have been so easy for him to just shoot the switch, and yet he had missed it! Now, we had to do this the more difficult way, which might kill us. It took the fact that I would probably get in deep trouble for it that I didn't try to shoot down Konstantin's ship.

"It's okay, Konstantin" Falco said. "We're still going to be able to get the train to Dunsinane, and we can defeat it there. And then we'll take the base".

It was hard for me to be as optimistic as Falco, however. There were still 30 more miles to go until we reached the enemy base. That wasn't going to be easy.

* * *

 **WILLOW'S POV**

For the next hour, or what felt like it, we continued driving across the dry, rocky ground. Macbeth was a series of mining villages and mountains, which seemed to go on forever. This might have had something to do with the fact that Macbeth was one of the largest planets in the Lylat System, or it might have had to do with this battle. Either way, we still had to get to Dunsinane and take down the train, then take the base from the Anglars.

Then, and only then, would we be able to win this war.

"We're getting close to the base! Only about a mile and a half!" Jack said.

I saw that, ahead of us, the train had grinded to a speed of about five miles an hour. I could run faster than that, so maybe...

I didn't know what I was thinking (in fact, I still don't), but I asked Jack, "Can I get out and run, and kill the conductor?"

It was a crazy idea, and I was expecting Jack to cut me off for being crazy, or yell at me until I had a seizure.

What I was _not_ expecting was for him to smile and say "Go for it".

* * *

Two minutes later, I had clambered out of the Landmaster and was now sprinting to catch the train, which was now moving at what might have been seven miles an hour. However, I was a pretty decent sprinter, and so I had soon caught up with it.

The conductor shouted, "Shucks! She's caught up!"

The boxcars opened again, dropping more boulders, but I was already clambering inside. I was determined to get to this guy. At the same time, however, it wasn't like I did not have even the slightest bit of reservations.

I'd been okay with killing aliens thus far. However, the conductor of the Forever Train was, as far as I could tell, another human being. It was hard for me to get myself in the mood for killing, to say the least.

But then I remembered Lucas lying in that hospital bed on Fichina, hooked up to all of those machines...and I knew that this person might have been at least partly responsible for it. I couldn't let him get away with that.

I pulled myself into the boxcar through the window and sat down on the dusty floor, trying to catch my breath, which wasn't that easy in this environment.

 _Breathe, Willow, in and out..._

I got to my feet and looked at the door to the next car. Even at this slow speed, it was going to be a dangerous crossing. I would need to make a four-foot leap from one car to another or else get crushed by the wheels against the hard, rocky ground.

Holding onto the wall of the car for support, I staggered to the front before making a leap of faith.

I landed in the next car, but the celebration was short-lived. I realized that I still had to make four more of these leaps of faith before I reached the conductor. It was going to be risky, for sure.

Even so, I managed to get through the next gap. And the next. And the next.

Soon, I was in the car immediately before the first one. Once I got in there, I could fight the Forever Train conductor. I pulled out my blaster, fully ready to do it.

I made the last jump and walked to the front of the car. The conductor, a red-colored ape with a little white fur behind the ears, didn't seem to notice me.

In hindsight, I should have just killed him instantly. But they always say, hindsight's 20/20. And I wanted to make this guy _suffer._ So I pistol-whipped him with my blaster.

"What d'ya think you're doing, huh?" the conductor snarled, turning to face me.

He pulled out his own blaster, and soon we were climbing to the top of the train. I really don't know why we didn't just duke it out in the car, but this was just what was going on.

* * *

We both pulled ourselves onto the car, although I was much stronger than the elderly-looking monkey. I immediately began swinging my blaster at his head, trying to knock him off, but he was more nimble than he looked for his age. The Forever Train engineer was really putting up a fight.

I managed to shoot a hole in his jacket with the lasers from the blaster, but he didn't shoot me back. Clearly, he wanted to do this the old-fashioned way, like in some old Western movie. I didn't know exactly where in his head that made sense in the slightest, but I was okay with that. He might have been strong, but I felt that I was stronger.

"Go easy on me!" the conductor wailed. "I'm an old man!"

"Well, you worked for Andross in the first war...and now you're supporting the Anglars...give me three good reasons why I shouldn't shoot you".

In his Alabaman accent, the conductor said, "That's reversing the burden of proof! You can't just ask me to-".

"Yes, I can" I said.

Before the Forever Train conductor could say anything else, I shot him in the chest. As a result, he tumbled down off of the boxcar, a fall of a good fifteen feet. That was a fall that was survivable...if you hadn't just been shot in the chest with a laser. There was little question in my mind that I had just killed him.

Despite what you might think, I didn't feel too much right then. I just knew that I had to keep hanging on if I wanted to survive. I didn't want to experience the same fall that the conductor did. The train sped up a little as it approached Dunsinane, so that was a real worry.

Of course, Murphy's Law dictated that there _had_ to be a tunnel with a low clearance for the train.

Meaning that I was pushed off by the stone wall and landed flat on my back, knocking the wind out of me.

I lay them for a second, but then I stood up and caught my breath. I didn't seem to have any major injuries. Nothing was broken or anything like that.

A little behind me, Falco got out of his Arwing. "Are you okay, Willow?"

"Yes" I said, not fully convinced of it.

"Did you get him?" Jack asked, his very tall frame climbing out of the tank.

"Yeah, he fell back there. Off the top of the train. As a result of me shooting him. He's dead".

"Nice job, Willow!" Ian said, offering a hand for me to high-five. I did so.

"This is no time to celebrate" Falco said. "We need to defeat everyone inside the fortress so that we can retake Dunsinane. It's six of us against several dozen of them, most likely. Those aren't the best odds, but there's nothing we can do about it".

* * *

The train went down a short tunnel, and then we had reached the interior of the fortress of Dunsinane. It really didn't look like much, just the remnants of an old mine that had long since been abandones. Really, I don't know why the Venomian army was still using it at all.

The core of the base was in the middle, a pillar of light with the Anglar insignia on it. If that area was captured, the entire base would go to the side that had captured it. This was the way the technology worked, which helped to support Clarke's Third Law.

"Are you ready, guys?" Falco asked.

"Ready!"

Sure enough, what must have been fifty or so Anglars came rushing out of the various hallways that were attached to the central atrium that we were in at the moment. We immediately started shooting into the crowd.

Soon, however, it became clear that they were _fleeing,_ not fighting. This meant that they didn't even have their blasters with them. _This_ meant that it was a cakewalk.

"That was quite something, Falco!" Konstantin said, chuckling.

"I know" the avian said. "Come, let's take the middle. We've done it, guys. We've got Macbeth".

* * *

Back in the village of Cawdor, we talked over dinner about how our mission had gone. We'd retaken the planet, but we were staying here for dinner before we would leave in the Great Fox that evening. It was going to be amazing just to sleep in my own bed again, I thought.

"So, you guys got Macbeth?" Lucas asked through a mouthful of soup.

"Yeah" Jack said. "It's going to be a cakewalk from here on out. Well, maybe not a _cakewalk._ But still, I think that we are definitely more likely to win than they are".

Cole nodded. He might still have been in awe with me for having killed the conductor.

Now that I thought about it, Albus Dumbledore had been right: Killing was not as easy as many people who had not done it before believed. Even though there was little question in my mind that I had done the right thing, I knew that it was going to haunt me for a long time: Could I have done something different, other than shooting him?

For now, though, I tried to concentrate on what was really important, which was the war.

Tomorrow, March 10, we would reach the space sector known as Area 6. There, we were going to fight our way through everything that the Anglar army had to offer. It was going to be dangerous, no question about it.

Then, Venom.

* * *

 **I apologize if this chapter seemed a little bare-bones. Really, I was finishing it at 8 PM, at which point I'm getting kind of tired (I often wake up at six or earlier). Plus, I feel that the battle for Macbeth might have been a little anticlimactic, but I really figure that the aliens would probably just flee or something. Even so, it DID hit well over six thousand words even BEFORE the question. I don't think it could be considered too bad then.**


	14. Shiver

**This chapter was tough to write, even though it's pretty short. Especially compared to how long I expect the last two chapters to be!**

 **Also, Jack's flashback is poorly written, I understand.**

* * *

 **JACK'S POV**

It was the night before we were going to fight in Area 6, and I had yet another nightmare. Even before I had volunteered to join Star Enfield on their quest to defeat the Anglar army, I had been no stranger to them. Now, however, they had become far worse in the last few weeks.

I supposed that it was still worth it, helping these people. There was substantial evidence that, once they had taken over the Lylat System, the Anglars would set their sights on the human world.

Because living and letting live wasn't their style. They weren't going to stop just because they had already won the marathon. No, they were going to run in the 10K right after that as well.

In any case, once I closed my eyes, I found myself in a scene that I was all too familiar with.

* * *

I was at one of the Polish army's bases in the Bosnian war. We were on the defensive here, with the enemy coming in to take us down. Unlike what usually happened to me, this was a lucid dream. I was aware the whole time that it was just a dream. In fact, _these_ dreams were almost always lucid dreams. For what reason, your guess is as good as mine.

On this particular occasion, we were hunched over and shooting at the enemy. However, we needed to be careful where our legs were, because one slip-up could easily lead to a mine going off. Yes, our own base was mined by the enemy. The situation was that bad for our side.

I managed to get a couple of hits in on the enemy, but one of my comrades was shot and killed. To make matters worse, his body collapsed and set off a mine. It was an enormous, red explosion, and I knew that some of the red was coming from _me._ I lost consciousness, overwhelmed by the pain and fear.

Later, I found myself in a medical tent, with a medic squeezing the (insert expletive here) out of an IV bag. He explained that our entire base had been destroyed, and that half of the people present had died, most of the other half being treated right near me.

I remembered all of the grief for quite a while. It wasn't a pleasant experience, being a soldier in the Bosnian War, but I knew that my job as a weapons expert was very much appreciated by both human and furry armies.

* * *

I woke up and sat bolt upright in my bed. My bones didn't crack too much. Even though I had aged to 47, I had stayed in good shape the whole time. I could have kicked some Anglar ass right then and there if I had had to.

Instead, I was soaked in a cold sweat. I knew that it hadn't been real, but that didn't make things any less terrifying. Post-traumatic stress disorder, or PTSD, is a very real thing that I don't think people recognize as much as they should. Today, it was making me pretty nervous.

I knew that we were going to fight our way through Area 6 today, which made me extraordinarily worried. For one, it was the last area that we faced before Venom itself, and that no doubt that it would be defended extremely heavily. Ever since I'd been taken in by the Lylatian army, I'd seen gameplay footage of the level, and even seen videos of people able to get six hundred points on the level, that's how many enemies there were.

 _Are,_ I corrected myself.

I couldn't believe the dream hadn't been real. It felt _so_ real. Even though I'd been aware of it being just a dream, I could feel the wind on my face, the pain of the bomb, and the grief at losing half of my squadron.

Luckily, the Star Enfield team hadn't lost anyone since I had been taken on. Mike and Will, as well as Mrs. Hooter, had died in a shooting on Fichina that also gravely injured Lucas, but this was before I'd met Lucas Enfield and the others. If I lost anyone that I had actually _met_ and fought alongside, that was going to affect me for many years to come.

Of course, it was far too early to gauge what was going to happen. I didn't know _exactly_ how crazy Area 6 was going to be, and I didn't know how well we were going to be able to handle it, or otherwise.

But, given the situation, I felt justified in feeling at least a _little bit_ nervous.

* * *

There was eventually nothing better to do than to get out of my boxer shorts (what I usually slept in) and put on my day clothes. Then, I joined the crew in the dining room of the Great Fox for breakfast.

The general atmosphere around the table was one of nervous excitement. I could tell that Ian, for one, looked like he might have had ADHD or autism, not the first time I had wondered that, because he was rocking back and forth on his chair. But, for that matter, so was I. Everyone had that sort of nervous energy about them, and I could barely eat the two slices of toast I had prepared for myself with peanut butter. Luckily, no one who was currently a member of Star Fox was allergic. Plus, who was I kidding, they probably had a cure for food allergies by this point.

Anyway. Sorry for rambling.

After breakfast, I went back to the hangar in order to do one last upgrade. I had to be quick about this, because our ETA (Estimated Time of Arrival) was only about seventy-five minutes away. As a result, I could only do one thing, and that was to help increase the potency of the Arwing's barrel roll feature. Hopefully, the other members of the crew would thank me for this later.

It took me the better part of an hour to do it for all of the ships, but it definitely would pay off. Especially considering that we were entering one of the most dangerous sectors in the entire Lylat System, we could definitely use this increased usage of one of the Arwing's most distinguishable features.

Now, there was only one thing left to do, which was to get ready for the battle.

* * *

The time came, and all of us except for Dr. Howler and Cole got into our Arwings and flew out of the hangar and into Area 6.

The reason the Bengal tiger did not allow Cole to take part in the battle was, once again, because of the concussion and other injuries he had suffered on Zoness. It was for his own good, and he knew it, but it didn't stop him from looking very irritated. I could tell that Cole McCallen was one person who would not want to miss the opportunity to stick it to his enemies in Area 6.

"Are you guys ready for this?" Falco said. "It's pretty intense".

"I'm as ready as I'll ever be!" said Lucas excitedly.

"Let's get this done!" Konstantin bellowed. Even though he was almost twenty years old, the Texan sounded like a little kid in a toy store. I was almost going to remind him that this was not supposed to be fun, but I restrained myself from doing so. I didn't need to make him worry, or anyone else for that matter.

The whole area of Area 6 looked kind of pretty, to be honest. The yellow-green planet of Venom lay far ahead of us, but it was still very much visible, and it felt almost like we were skiing downhill to the planet. Amid the whole area, there were these things that looked kind of like hurricanes or tops, spinning in the middle of it all.

And, laying beyond all of this, there was the endless blackness of space, that which inspired such awe and wonder. Really, who knew what was going to come after this whole war, assuming we all survived? In this one moment, it really did feel like there was boundless possibility for the future.

But then, I told myself the truth: That it wouldn't come true if we failed to take Area 6. We had to get through and fight the boss.

Ian and Lucas were the ones who were doing most of the shooting down of the hurricanes, while Willow and Konstantin were focusing on the other enemies that came out of seemingly nowhere and shot red lasers at us. Really, it wasn't that tough.

"Look out for the space mines!" Konstantin yelled.

I looked up ahead. Sure enough, small, blue spiked balls were all over the place in this next part of Area 6. If we weren't careful, our ships would most likely explode, in which case we were going to be dead.

Acting out of instinct, I fired a smart bomb. "Look at that!" said Ian.

Sure enough, the enormous three-dimensional starburst that had appeared in the middle of the air (if you could call it that) was literally _consuming_ all of the mines. It was quite a sight to behold, to be sure. Not only that, but there were some Anglar ships in the blast, and they seemed to all disintegrate before our very eyes. It might have been pretty freaky to see if it wasn't in the interest of our side.

With the help of the smart bomb, we were able to navigate our way through the minefield and into the next part of Area 6, which would no doubt turn out to be even more dangerous than it had been so far.

* * *

 **LUCAS'S POV**

The feeling that Jack described was definitely accurate. It really did feel like we were going down a ski slope, getting closer and closer to the bottom, which was where Venom lay.

Along the way, we were firing a lot of lasers. I allowed Willow to take down one of the enemies behind me, and then we continued onwards. It wasn't going to be too hard to get through the batallion, so I wasn't that worried. We were on a roll.

"Shoot down those enemy ships, Lucas!" I heard Falco say.

I looked and noticed that there were indeed some ships that resembled Star Destroyers. I mashed the fire button as much as possible, ensuring that these ships would be downed as much as possible.

"Did we get 'em?" said a voice through my communicator.

"Not yet, sir!" came another voice.

I realized that these were two affiliates of the Venomian army, talking about _us._ Clearly, this was meant to unhinge me. It was a last-ditch attempt to stop us from reaching Venom. That much I understood.

Soon, the Star Destroyer clones began firing, but I was able to use Jack's new barrel roll technology to help deflect the lasers. With this, it became easy to get the ships to begin to fall. Had this been the level in the video game, I had little doubt that this would have been enough to merit the medal.

I had, to paraphrase George Michael, "hit that high". I was in the zone, shooting down enemy ships and protecting my teammates, and allowing them to protect me. This was the kind of thing that got that adrenaline pumping through my veins. I really could get used to this.

Then, I felt a lurch, and my roller coaster was no longer one that only went up.

* * *

I'd been shot. Not in the body, but my Arwing had gotten a laser to the front. Luckily, I didn't clip a wing or anything, and nothing seemed to be damaged except for my invisible shield gauge. This was a good thing.

Breaking a wing is one of the worst things that can happen to you in Star Fox 64, other than dying. This means that you will have a lot less control, and if you had upgraded your lasers, you would lose the upgrade and be back to the single green ones. I didn't know if this would nullify Jack's upgrades to the lasers, and other features of the Arwing, but I knew that I didn't want to risk that.

At this point, my metaphorical roller coaster was already at that point where your stomach feels weightless. I didn't want to get it to a loop-de-loop, or something like that.

"Are you okay, Lucas?" Ian asked me, having noticed that I'd gotten shot and probably wondered if I was in trouble.

"Yeah, Ian, I'm fine" I said. "Just an enemy laser or two, nothing that I can't handle".

The others seemed not to be too concerned. After all, I'd taken a laser to the leg before, and it hadn't been anything that blood transfusions, physical therapy, and a mystery injection couldn't fix. My ship was far more durable.

We kept on going down the line, continuing to get closer and closer to Venom, until we were suddenly stopped in our tracks.

"Is that..." Falco began to ask.

There was no question about it a couple of seconds later. A disc-like being, standing on its site, with a massive blue button in the middle and three or four tentacles on the edges, was looking right at us. Based on my experience from playing the game before, I knew exactly what this was.

It was Gorgon, the boss of Area 6.

* * *

Gorgon opened up its disc-like body to reveal three segments similar to flower petals, with teeth like a Venus fly trap. It had three energy balls centered around an energy core in the middle.

"Let's take this thing down!" Konstantin bellowed.

Falco was wasting no time, shooting down those three energy balls in what seemed to be no time at all. Jack was also helping, shooting down the core very quickly. As a result of this, the core turned from blue to yellow.

It wasn't a pretty golden shade of yellow, though. It was a more olive color, which I personally find kind of disgusting, but to each his own, I guess.

Gorgon immediately seemed to undulate in front of our very eyes, before appearing in front of us once again.

"Get away, fast!" Falco barked.

I remembered why soon enough. As soon as we moved to the side, a large pink beam came blasting out of the middle of the Gorgon, in the energy button or whatever. It wasn't that hard to avoid, but it was pretty freaky just the same.

After this, Falco repeated the process two more times before the Gorgon was defeated.

"We did it!" he cheered.

My heart lifted. Out of everything that had just happened, everything that was still to happen, one good thing had come.

We had taken Area 6.

* * *

After we had done something so pivotal to winning the war, in taking Area 6, I'm sorry to say that our celebration was short-lived. After all, there was still Venom, and that was going to be the largest and most dangerous battle of all.

We'd done this so many times over the last five weeks, but I knew that I wanted to have one more dance with Willow. After all, there was a very real possibility that we would die the day after tomorrow, so I figured that we might as well get this in.

"I'm cool with that" Willow said. "I agree, we might not be here this time next week".

We went down to the workout room, and I pulled out my phone. After a while, I got to the song I liked, one of my favorites by Coldplay. It was also one of my father's favorites, but I wasn't going to let myself become distanced from the songs we both liked.

I took her arms as the song began.

It really did seem that we were dancing to a lot of songs about unrequited love lately. But Coldplay had always been one of our favorite bands, so that was what we listened to as I pulled her along in a slow dance.

In this part of the song, the singer is begging the girl to get with him, saying that he's changed. As for what it means to "shiver" in this song, that's anyone's guess.

Willow seemed to be getting into the music just as much as I was, and I was happy about that. It seemed that, in the midst of this war, we were able to have a good time together with regards to something that was entirely unrelated.

It's a long song, about five minutes long. And yet, Willow didn't seem to get tired of dancing to it. And neither did I.

I really was in love with this girl.

* * *

All too soon, it was time to go to bed, where, for the first time in a long time, I didn't have any dreams. Maybe I was just really tired from the day's events, or maybe the dance with Willow had helped with my nightmares.

After a quick breakfast the next morning, it was time for the most important battle of our lives. I know that I keep emphasizing just how important every battle was, but this one really _was_ a big deal. The Anglars' backs were against the wall, and we just had to win the battle of Venom in order to win the war.

We landed on Venom, and I was immediately assaulted by the toxic air. It smelled like rotten eggs, and it was very dry. It was like Yellowstone National Park without the geysers.

Well, there _might_ have been geysers on Venom, but I had no way of knowing if that was the case or not.

"I know where to go" Konstantin said.

The rest of us looked at him, puzzled. Dr. Howler was once again still on the ship, there to tend to anyone who was wounded in the battle...which was likely to be just about all of us who survived.

"There is a temple about half a mile that way" he said, pointing to his right. "This is where I saw Wolf and Panther plotting to kill Lucas".

I flinched at the sound of my name, remembering being tied to a chair and shot in the leg. That wasn't a good memory.

"Show us the way, then" Jack said. "I know that we will need guidance on how to get here. The location of the temple isn't clear from where we are at now".

"Sure" Konstantin replied.

The Texan led us about half a mile up a hill to where we could see an old, seemingly abandoned stone temple.

"This is the place. I know it".

"Okay, then" Falco said. "Let's stay safe, guys, and remember: This one is for all the marbles. We **really** have to win today".

After all of us nodded to show that we understood, Falco led us inside the temple.

* * *

 **I'm sorry if, once again, the battle with Gorgon seemed rushed. The fact of the matter is, writing this at nine in the evening really does make one not want to include quite as much detail. And I would like to apologize once again for the short length. But I PROMISE you, the last two chapters are both going to be huge.**

 **With that, please review and tell me what you thought about it!**

 **P.S. I do not own the song "Shiver" by Coldplay.**

 **SnowLucario out.**


	15. Lucorruption

**This is going to be an eventful chapter. Hold on tight! It's going to be one long roller coaster ride.** **But it's going to be good, trust me. It IS a little graphic, but nothing too bad.**

 **There is character death involved. If you don't like that, stop reading here. There is also a neutral POV for the final battle. Much like the one earlier in the story, this one is in third person. You'll know what I mean once you get there.**

 **I'm four chapters from the end of the third book, the first chapter of which will be released April 1. The last chapter of that story, if all goes to plan, will be released on my birthday. The third book is the shortest, at only 15 chapters and probably seventy-something thousand words. It WILL be a satisfying conclusion, though. I owe you guys nothing less.**

* * *

 **LUCAS'S POV**

This might sound like a stupid decision, but, after much discussion, the group of us decided to split up. We figured that if we could cover more territory, we would be able to defeat more enemies than if we had stuck together. In addition, there was always the possibility that it could be just like Macbeth, where the enemies had all fled rather than fight what seemed to them like a losing battle.

We made the executive decision that we were all going to split up. Dr. Howler was back on the Great Fox, just in case someone received a laser wound or anything.

Ian and Konstantin were going to take the route to the right, which was into a green tunnel (about #29AB87) with what looked like aquatic plants growing. Since I loved the ocean, I would have _loved_ to take that tunnel, but I didn't protest. We had more important matters to attend to.

Cole and Falco were taking the route to the left, which was made out of stone the color of Harvard Crimson, #A41034. It looked pretty menacing just based on the color, although we had no way of knowing what lay inside of it.

Jack, Willow, and I were going to take the tunnel directly in front of us. It was the same sickly yellow, approximately #E39C24, that comprised the entry way of the temple. It didn't look particularly appetizing.

"All right. Stay safe, and hopefully these tunnels are all going to converge at some point" Falco said. "Let's win this war, guys!"

"Okay!" I said. I was as excited to do this as Falco was. It was time to kick some serious Anglar ass.

* * *

At first, things were going well enough for the three of us. The air wasn't that bad inside the temple, contrary to what one might think. I knew that it wasn't good to take particularly deep breaths when you were outside the temple, but when we were inside it seemed to be fine.

Also, the smell of sulphur was almost completely gone. It was just sand, stone, and the sounds of our feet that echoed against the bricks. It wasn't pleasant by any means, but it was doable.

That is, until we came to a raging river right in front of us.

"What will we do? Jump across?" Willow asked.

I eyed the river. It wasn't particularly wide, but it was still at least ten or twenty feet, too far to jump for sure. We could wade, or swim, across, but it was moving pretty quickly. And I could see where the river ended up. After what looked like about fifteen seconds, it went through what looked like a drop straight down. I wasn't sure that we could survive that, or that we even wanted to take the risk.

"I don't see how we could" Jack said. "We'll have to swim across as quickly as possible. How high would you guys rate your confidence in the water?"

I smiled, remembering the Aquatics lessons that we'd taken back at the academy. "Pretty high".

"Let me go first" Jack said. The weapons expert stepped into the river, and was immediately swept off his feet and carried downstream.

"No!" I said, but Willow pulled at my wrist.

"We've got to follow him. Do you _really_ think the Venomians will have built their base like this, risking one of their own getting killed because of this river right here?"

"Fine" I snarled at my girlfriend as I stepped into the river.

It was icy cold, much like Penobscot Bay during the wintertime. Willow and I were no stronger than Jack had been as we were quickly swept off our feet. Trying to grab onto something at all (the river was about three feet deep) proved to be in vain as we were carried over the edge of the waterfall.

I'm ashamed to say this, but I was screaming like a little girl as we went down and down like a broken log flume ride.

I don't know how far the fall was, maybe thirty or forty feet. I could have rappelled down the waterfall despite my fear of heights (which is ironic, considering that I had become a pretty decent pilot). Instead, I had to free-fall with my girlfriend.

After a while, we landed in a pool of some sort. This was a lot deeper, maybe ten or twelve feet judging by how long it had taken for me to torpedo upwards after my feet touched the ground. There was no denying that we had just gotten very lucky.

I reached the top, gasping for air, and spat the water out of my mouth. Willow was already at the surface, which was no surprise given that I was heavier than she was. We both climbed out, and, after seeing that Jack was already out of the water, we walked over to him.

"You okay?" Willow asked him.

"I'm fine! Now let's see what's at the end of this hallway! It's going to be something pretty important, I'm sure".

* * *

As it turned out, Jack was correct in his revolutionary assessment of the room.

About a hundred yards down the hallway, we entered into what appeared to be some sort of laboratory. It would put anything in the early twenty-first century to shame, let me tell you.

Microscopes were on tables, with Petri dishes stacked what must have been a hundred high. The tables, laden with plenty of scientific instruments, resulted in several paths being cut through the room. Beakers and bottles of various chemicals were all over bookshelves against the walls, which reached up fifty feet. You could have put a rock-climbing gym in here.

And, at the end of the room, there was a small man who was hunched over what appeared to be a project.

However, a closer examination made the hairs stand up on the back of my neck. It didn't appear to be a man. It looked kind of like an _ape_ if anything, and I knew that Andross, the main enemy of the Lylat System in the first war, had been one.

Was this guy working for Andross? It was entirely possible.

We started walking towards him, but then he turned around, giving us a very clear view of exactly who he was.

It was Andrew Oikonny, the nephew of Andross. He was a known member of the Star Wolf team, which pretty much automatically meant he was _not_ our friend. Whatever he had planned in store for us, it couldn't be good.

"I have a real treat for you" he sneered.

* * *

 **COLE'S POV**

Things had been going well enough for Falco and I. We had gone down the red tunnel and continued to take every right fork, thinking that taking a completely random strategy in this maze might be just as well as anything else.

The whole time, we kept up some small talk just to prevent us from being unhinged in case enemies came into the room out of the blue. If that happened, we were going to have to try and remain calm as we shot them down. It was a good thing that we had brought our blasters with us into the caverns of Venom, because without them we would have had no chance.

It was going well, that was, until we hit a dead end.

* * *

"Damn it!" Falco shouted, kicking at the wall with his metal boot. Like all members of the Star Fox team, current and former, Falco Lombardi had metal legs. Lucas had almost had to have his amputated as well, but a tilt-table test had vindicated him of that.

"Come on, let's go back" I said. "Who knows what could be here?"

Just as soon as I had said that, I heard a rumbling from above. There was no mistaking the sound of something heavy dropping from on high, which was not something that we wanted to have dropped on _us._

 _"Is that..."_ Falco began to ask.

He didn't get to finish the sentence as we were forced to leap out of the way to avoid being crushed. The sight that greeted us was a sight for sore eyes, let me tell you.

A burly, stone man, if you could call it a man at all, was marching towards us, slamming its fists against the walls. It was so ugly that it almost made me recoil in fear, but I knew that wouldn't help us get away from it. Fine, _him._ That wasn't something I was doing.

"Yes, it is! It's Golemech! Let's run!"

I remembered now: On the easy route of Venom, you fly through a temple, where you have to defeat this massive golem. I wasn't sure that I wanted to face it, but we had no other option.

"Let's shoot it down!" I said.

"It'll take a lot of lasers, but I think we can do that!" Falco said.

The golem seemed to get angrier as a result of our words, and it chased after us with renewed vengeance. Pulling out his blaster, Falco was shooting like mad, but it indeed only seemed to get madder still.

Still, I could tell that this strategy was working. Small pieces of the golem were falling off like plaster, and I could only think that if we kept this up for long enough, we might be able to outrun this thing.

"Keep shooting!" yelled Falco. "Expose its body! The bricks are just a covering of its true form!"

Based on having played the game before, I knew that I could trust him on that. So, I did just that, shooting at the golem with all of my might.

We turned several corners along the crimson tunnels, but the thing was still following us. Much like a magnet attracted to metal, there was no way to get away from it.

Thankfully, our lasers did eventually turn out to be enough, and we continued to shoot until it exploded. Thus, the passageway behind us was clear once again.

"That wasn't something I need to do again" I said, unnecessarily.

"I hear you, Cole. Luckily, I don't think we'll have to. Unless...". He didn't need to finish the sentence.

Really, who knew what else could be in this vast network of caverns that we had probably only barely scratched the surface of? There might be another hundred golems, or a thousand. But I decided not to worry about it at the moment. We had a lot more important things to focus on.

"Let's take that path" I said, pointing in the direction opposite the one we had just come from. I figured that there might be other golems ready to go after us, which would be triggered whenever anyone came in that direction. It was really best not to risk that.

* * *

The hallway became very loud, with sounds similar to the conveyor belt at baggage claim at an airport. I didn't know what it was. Maybe a factory?

"What is that noise?" I asked, voicing my question aloud.

Soon, however, that question became unnecessary, because we gained our answer.

We were in an enormous cavern, big enough to fit a university campus. It was so large that it was hard to see our particular catwalk, as catwalks and conveyor belts ran every which way, giving the impression of an enormous factory complex. Which, come to think of it, it probably was.

"Do your little turn on the catwalk, Falco" I said, trying to suppress a laugh.

Falco was not amused. Two months ago, when the flight academy had gotten overrun by the Anglar forces, Falco had been in his room listening to the song by Right Said Fred. As a result, valuable time had been lost.

"Look, I'm going to jump down there" he said.

I looked at him like he was crazy. "Are you serious? That's like twenty feet!"

It was true. The closest conveyor belt to us, the one Falco was most likely going to be aiming for, was a good twenty feet below us. If Falco jumped from here, he was likely to get seriously injured. And I still didn't understand _why_ he wanted to do that.

"There's something down there. And I'll be fine, Cole. I've done a lot crazier in my time".

Before I could say anything to protest, anything to try to stop him, he took a flying leap off the edge. He dropped like a rock until he landed, gracefully, on his artificial legs.

He went over to what I could now see was a jar lying exposed on the conveyor belt, which was stopped. Indeed, it had been stopped before Falco had jumped onto it, and I wanted to believe that he would not have made such a leap of faith had it been moving.

"Cole, this brain's familiar".

* * *

 **KONSTANTIN'S POV**

I don't know exactly how long I had expected traveling through the Venomian tunnels to take. I knew that it was a literal maze underneath the planet's toxic surface, so I had fully expected it to be a challenge to navigate.

Three hours in, and I was starting to feel more than a little thirsty. The tunnels that Ian and I had been going down, despite the color making you think otherwise, were quite warm. Before long, both of us had been dripping in sweat.

This in itself was not a pleasant sensation, because of the fact that it reminded me of that time so long ago that I had been held captive in the cell underneath the alternate location for the Grey Clouds Flight Academy. Those evil Xenos!

"Why build it this way? It would be wildly inconvenient" Ian said after a while.

"Probably so that it would be harder to invade" I said. "And also so I could get my daily workout in".

Ian chuckled.

"But, seriously", I said, "we've got to be close to the core by now. We've been going as close to fully underground as we can, and the tunnels have changed color I don't know how many times. Blaster at the ready?"

"I got your back" Ian said to me.

That made me feel a little better. No matter what, Ian was going to make sure that I didn't die. Probably.

"I'm a little worried about the others" I said. "No idea where they are, or even if they're still alive. That's going to be tough to work around, because you just _don't know_ ".

"This is the way I see it" Ian said. "We can't control what's going on with the others. But we can control how we react to that uncertainty. And, right now, it's important that we continue on downward. Let's get to the core, and maybe we'll find some other enemies along the way".

* * *

After another half an hour, and what might have been another liter of sweat from both of us, we ended up in a very different type of hallway. The walls were blue, with white floors and cobwebs. White pillars with gold trim adorned the whole area. For all the world, it looked a lot like the Crystal Palace from the first Paper Mario game.

"This is weird" I said. "The tunnels should at least have some similar features. But this doesn't look anything like the others. There's definitely an argument to be made that something here is off".

"Let's try that door over there" Ian said, pointing to a blue door at the end of the hallway.

As soon as I had gotten over it and tried the lock, it gave a lurch, knocking me five feet backwards. I landed painfully on my back, knocking the breath out of me.

Ian ran over to me. "Konstantin! Are you all right?"

I stood up, brushing the dust off of me. "I'm fine. But what else is going on here?"

"You are about to find out, my young friends" said a sneering voice from behind us. I turned around, looking for the source of the voice.

With a jolt of red-hot fury, and memories of shackles, beatings, and severe dehydration, I recognized the grinning face of Wolf O'Donnell.

* * *

"Caught you now, didn't I?" he said, laughing very hard.

I didn't have anything to say to that. After all, it was pretty much a hundred percent true. He _had_ caught us.

But that was something the old Konstantin Brockenbough would have accepted. I'd changed in the last two months, and I was ready to fight back.

"Ian! Out of the way!" I said to him.

"But..." he said, starting to protest.

"No buts! This is between me and Wolf. I can take this guy, I'm sure of it. I think-".

"That's just a feeling you have!" Ian shouted.

"-I _know_ that it's meant to be a one-on-one battle between the two of us. You're not in it at all, Ian. Go! Save yourself!"

"Keller, that's not going to be necessary" Wolf said. "The Texan is right. It's between me and him".

I was a little surprised by this, but not for the most plausible reason. I'd never heard Ian's last name before. I suppose that I had never really cared about it.

But Wolf and I were about to settle things the old-fashioned way. That I was sure of. And it was going to be a fight to the death.

Wolf and I stood thirty feet apart from Ian, so that he wouldn't get hurt. I'm not sure exactly why Wolf wanted a fair fight, but he might have to deal with the consequences...

* * *

At first, it was pretty much just a simple fistfight. As a result, it was pretty clear who was winning. Wolf was better at hand-to-hand combat than I was. Which was really no surprise, since he had taught that very discipline at the GCFA.

I eventually managed to get a hit in on Wolf, right in the stomach. He retreated, clutching it in pain. I used it to hit him again, this time in the arm that was protecting his stomach.

Then, Wolf pulled out his blaster. He shot a laser at me, which I only barely managed to dodge. In fact, it singed my Greatcoat, it was so close to hitting me. Then, I would have ended up like Lucas. Or worse, like Mike or Will.

 _All the more reason to get rid of this bastard!_ I thought angrily.

"Oh, it is **on** " I said, gritting my teeth. I pulled out my own blaster, aiming it at Wolf's heart.

Wolf dodged that laser, and another one. Clearly, he had received a lot of training in these things, so it wasn't that much of a surprise that he was so good at combat. No doubt it had been required in a lot of the criminal activities he had been involved in earlier in his life.

"You jerk! There's no way you can beat me!" he yelled, grabbing my leg. I managed to kick away from him before he could shoot it, so he was now sprawled on the ground. He got up quickly, but I seized my chance.

I took my blaster and pulled the trigger, shooting Wolf in the right leg, just like he had done to Lucas so many weeks ago.

Wolf collapsed in pain. Not as much blood came out as had with Lucas, but he had clearly been incapacitated a great deal. Now was my chance.

I pinned Wolf to the ground, using the skills I had picked up when I had been practicing at wrestling back on the Great Fox. I hesitated before doing it.

After all, I wanted to savor the moment. After all of the pain Wolf had caused myself and others, there was no question that he deserved to die. For traitors like him, I really hoped that there was a special place in hell.

I punched him in the kidney with all of my might. "That's for betraying the Lylat System in the first place!"

In the other kidney, I gave him a little kick. "That's for manipulating the trial to get me convicted!"

I found Wolf's knife in his pocket, which still had dried blood on it from when he had stabbed Lucas. This really did it for me, and my vision turned red.

With a deep breath, I plunged the knife into his eye. Wolf howled as I twisted it like I was carving a pumpkin. I wasn't going to let up, though.

Soon, one of Wolf's purple eyes was lying on the ground. Looking backwards, I saw that Ian had nearly fainted at the sight. Personally, knowing just how OCD the guy could be, he was doing a good job at not seeming to get too scared.

"Sorry, Ian!" I said as I started to dig into Wolf's other eye, rendering him fully blind.

After cutting Wolf's other eye out, he wailed, "You just made me blind for the rest of my life! How do you feel about that, huh?"

I winked, which I was glad Wolf could no longer see. "The rest of your life isn't going to be that long".

With that, I plunged the knife into Wolf's heart. I knew instinctively that he was dead as the light faded from his eyes. There was no way anyone could have survived that.

I stood back, breathing heavily. I didn't feel bad about killing Wolf. On the contrary, I was sure that I had done the world a great service in getting rid of that bastard. Still, though, it was a little shocking.

The entire time, I'd been working towards the goal of getting revenge on Wolf. Now, however, that was irrelevant, as he was now dead, at my hands no less. This gave me quite a bit of satisfaction. However, at the same time, there was the whole deal about having to find a new purpose.

All of that was thrown to the back of my mind by Ian's next words.

"Did you really just..." he started to say.

"If what you were about to ask was, did I really just kill Wolf, then the answer would be _yes_ ".

He looked like he was about to say something else, but I stopped him. "We've got bigger fish to fry right now. Let's get out of here".

And so we left the Crystal Palace-esque hallway, leaving the bloodied corpse of Wolf O'Donnell behind.

* * *

 **LUCAS'S POV**

We were just standing in the lab when Andrew turned to face us.

He pulled out a bow and arrow, and I realized that this was pretty much exactly like what Mrs. Hooter had done, weaponizing the tranquilizers used to transport students to the Grey Clouds Flight Academy. We'd used those to knock out the guards and save Konstantin from his execution. If it had not been for Mrs. Hooter, who was now lying dead in the ground on Fichina, Konstantin would be as well.

Jack and Willow looked on with horror. I didn't blame them. It sure looked as though Andrew was about to shoot me.

 _Well, I've survived a laser wound before...surely an arrow wound won't be as bad?_

"Sweet dreams, Enfield" Andrew said in his venomous voice.

With a golden arm, Andrew stretched the bowstring out and let the arrow fly, hitting me right in the chest.

Immediately, I felt exhausted, like I had just run a marathon. My vision began to darken, and I knew what was going on as everything went black.

* * *

I woke up...some time later. My head was hurting like it was being hit from the inside with a sledgehammer. And it took a while for me to figure out what was going on again.

"Uuuuunnnnnhhhhh..." I grunted, trying to open my eyes.

I found that I was still in the same laboratory as before, with Andrew, Willow, and Jack standing over me. The latter two had very shocked expressions on their faces, and I could only wonder what must have happened while I was out.

"There, there" Andrew said. "You've come around. I've got something to tell you, Enfield, that Foster and Novsky already know".

I turned my aching head to face him. "Yes?" I groaned.

He held up an empty syringe. "Can you guess where the contents of this syringe are now, Mr. Enfield?" he asked in his typical venomous tone.

It didn't take a Sherlock Holmes to figure out the most likely answer to that question. Still, though, I decided to let Andrew answer it for me, since it hurt to talk.

"Inside of you. And do you know what this drug does?"

I had no idea, but judging by the expression on Andrew's face, I could guess that it was most definitely not in my interest.

"Its major side effect is that it can be used to control the subject. I also injected myself with the "controller". Now, Enfield, you are like my own video game. It's just like the Imperius Curse from the Harry Potter series that you humans seem to be big fans of".

 _I'm not going to let myself be this monkey's automaton! I'm going to fight this!_

"You will do my bidding. And, right now, what I ask of you is... _to kill Jack Novsky"._

I gasped. He wanted me to kill Jack...our own team member. There was no way that I could do that.

"Do it, or I will!" Andrew spat out.

And suddenly, a sense of euphoria enveloped me. I saw that things were going to be absolutely amazing if I only followed Andrew's orders. I could get a future with Willow, in a nice house by the sea, and we could get pretty much whatever we wanted. Would I do it?

"Don't, Lucas! He'll just kill us afterwards!"

There was a little bit of Willow coming in, but for the most part Andrew was stealing the show. I could picture myself carrying out the act. All I had to do was pull out my blaster, aim at Jack's heart or brain, and pull the trigger, and he'd be dead. It was that simple.

And that complicated. Because my pesky little girlfriend was pleading with me, telling me not to.

Jack looked at me, a desperate plea in his eyes. "Relax! Don't do it!"

 _Should I...or shouldn't I?_

The feeling of euphoria, of soaring above the clouds, was very real, even if it had been artificially induced by whatever Andrew had shot into me. I knew that it would only continue if I killed Jack now. I don't know how I knew that, but it was true.

"Please, Lucas...if you have _ever_ cared about me, at all, don't kill him! It's not worth it".

There was the little voice of reason...that _stupid_ little voice of reason...trying to stop me from doing what I knew I absolutely had to do. I had to kill Jack Novsky, so why was it _so...fucking...hard?_

"You've got ten seconds, Enfield. If you don't, I'll kill him. And you. And Foster. Unless you'd rather have me do it?"

Jack started to back away, but he also stood his ground, like a man who was caught in the sights of a wild bear.

That did it for me. He was vulnerable right now.

You might say, _Lucas! What were you_ thinking? But the truth is, I _wasn't_ thinking. The reactions and all of the synapses that were going on in my brain were not rational in the least, and I had typically considered myself a pretty rational person. Of course, just about everyone does.

But something in that syringe was changing my thinking. I could see myself having an amazing future, having kids with Willow. _Just kill Jack,_ said a voice inside my head. _It'll be over, and then you'll have won the war!_

But why was Andrew telling me that, if he was on the opposite side as me?

None of this made any sense except for one thing. _Kill Jack._

 _No. Don't do this, Lucas Enfield. Willow is going to **kill** you!_

 _No, she isn't, she'll understand._

 _DON'T DO IT!  
_

 _DO IT!_

 _NO! DON'T, LUCAS! DON'T!_

Eventually, the voice in my head became too difficult to resist. I aimed my gun at Jack's head and fired.

His head pretty much exploded. And, as the floor became less clear with his bodily fluids, my mind became more clear.

 _What did I just do?_

Behind me, Willow was sobbing. And I realized that I had just killed Jack Novsky. He'd been taken on as a weapons expert, to help us with upgrading our ships, and he had paid the ultimate price for it.

I'd been hoodwinked into doing it. And Willow was completely justified in crying. After all, I had just done something for which I didn't know if she would ever be able to forgive me.

She could try, certainly. But the fact remained that...

I saw the glint of wings of a ship. Looking up, I was able to confirm that it was a Wolfen, the craft that the Star Wolf team used.

Andrew was escaping. I couldn't get my revenge on him. At least not right now. But the time would come.

Now I had tears in my eyes, and it was all I could do not to break down and cry. Taking the life of an ally...I'd made a lot of fuck-ups in my time, but nothing like this.

* * *

 **IAN'S POV**

From where Konstantin had defeated Wolf, we took a purple tunnel that seemed to lead deeper into the planet. Not only did it get hotter and hotter, as well as darker, but it also became somewhat claustrophobic. It wasn't pleasant to be down here, but I knew, of course, that we had no other option. Not if we wanted to win this war.

The downward slope, however, gave us a chance to catch our breath and regain our strength a little bit. It was definitely making it easier to envision winning whatever battle might be facing us in just a few minutes.

"Sorry if I scared you right there" Konstantin said.

"Why would you have? Honestly, I hated the guy too".

"Feel free to use the present tense" he said. "After all, Hazel didn't stop loving Augustus after he died of cancer, so why should we stop hating Wolf and everything he stood for?"

He did have a point.

"We are going to have to win now" I said. "All of the marbles, right here".

"I know" Konstantin replied. "Let's just hope that the others somehow found the way, by some miracle. It's possible. I don't know under what circumstances, but I am convinced that there is a chance".

We didn't know how many Anglars would be present, but somehow we did get the sense that we were truly at the end of everything. The final battle in the war against the Anglars would be fought at the end of this tunnel.

Indeed, as the path changed into a staircase, I got this sense even more. It felt pretty climactic to me, and I was definitely looking forward to taking it to the actual base.

"Is the core down here, do you think?" Konstantin asked me.

I rolled my eyes. "I'm 97% sure. It's just that three percent, you know? That makes me a little uneasy. I just hope that it wasn't all for nothing, in which case: How are we going to get back up to the top?"

"We'll find a way" the Texan said.

I was left with that as we reached an ornate magenta door, probably the color #CA1680. And yes, I can estimate hex color codes just by looking at the object that is that color. It's one of my talents as an autistic savant.

"Shall we go through?" I asked.

Konstantin nodded, and so we worked together to open the door, which was extremely heavy. It took both of our efforts.

And we got a very big surprise on the other side.

* * *

On the other side of the magenta door, there were two other doors. One of them was a teal color that approximated #029780, while the other was a yellow color that was about #C69E24. All three doors converged in the middle of a triangular room.

Stepping out of the teal door at the same time as us were Falco and Cole. The yellow one had Lucas and Willow come out.

That really had been quite a coincidence. How had all of us managed to get here. Except...where was Jack?

"Where's Jack?" Cole asked.

"I'll explain later" Lucas said, deliberately avoiding Cole's eyes. "Right now, this battle is all that matters".

 _Okay..._ I thought. It wasn't like Lucas to be evasive on purpose.

"He's right" Falco said. "Let's go through that orange door right there" he said, pointing to one that was pushed about halfway into the side of the triangle that the room's walls formed.

The orange door was about the color #F8693D, which was pretty awesome. What was even more awesome, depending on how you defined the word, was that a horde of enemies were waiting for us in the next room.

* * *

There were ordinary Anglars all over the place, with other droids that were able to stand, walk, run, and fight defending them. Not only that, but I could see Leon Powalski, who had used to work for the flight academy.

We didn't really have a strategy. We simply diverged and fought among the various forms of enemies that were present in the large chamber.

* * *

 **NEUTRAL POV**

The chamber shook with all of the sounds of battle. It wasn't a chamber that anyone would want to collapse on top of them, that was for sure.

It was the size of Notre Dame, and it was made out of stone the color of cheese. There were several alcoves in which fighting was taking place, and the Star Enfield team spread out in order to take down as many enemies as possible.

The core was hanging from a very strong string in the middle of the chamber, much like a disco ball. In order to get it down, one only needed to hit it with an object. Not only that, but it was fragile enough to break from the 80-foot fall. If the core was dropped, the entire base would shut down, since the core was needed to power the base.

There was one black door at the edge of the chamber that led back to the surface. This was designed for the residents of the Venomian base to evacuate if it became necessary. The Star Enfield team had decided together, before leaving to tackle their individual foes, that they would take this door after they had won the battle.

This was no small feat, however. There were literally _hundreds_ of aliens, and only six team members, Lucas Enfield having killed Jack Novsky when under the influence of a drug Andrew Oikonny had given him. The odds were stacked against Star Enfield by a long shot.

Willow went off to do battle with a group of aliens, all of which were trying to bite her. However, Willow was swift, and she was managing to avoid just about every time they came up on her. She didn't know how long it would last, but she was shooting her blaster to her heart's content, not caring whether friend or foe met the lasers.

Cole was going after Pigma Dengar, who was right in the middle of the fray. Cole, having been trained in martial arts from a young age, and Pigma, a fat piece of swine who had barely worked out a day in his life, were not an even match at all. Cole McCallen was kicking his ass.

Falco was fighting Leon. The former colleagues at the Grey Clouds Flight Academy were sparring hand-to-hand, and Falco was having a slight advantage. Once the main members of the clan had been taken care of, it would be a lot easier to take care of the rest of them. That was the strategy that the team had gone in with.

"Let's get the core!" Ian shouted. He had to look up from his fight against a droid that resembled ROB 64 slightly, which was a big mistake. This allowed the droid to conk him on the head, knocking Ian unconscious. Konstantin then jumped from his fight against a group of five Anglars in order to kill off the droid that had been about to finish Ian off.

In the middle of it all, Lucas was using his tall frame to try to throw something at the core. Whether it be his blaster, one of the rocks that occasionally popped up, or even a button on his flight suit, nothing was reaching that high. _Michael Jordan, I could really use your help right now!_ he was thinking.

All in all, the scene was chaos. Lucas threw his blaster once again, trying to reach the disco ball core. This time, it got lost in the crowd of aliens. Cursing, Lucas looked over at Willow, who was getting shot at by Leon Powalski, the latter having managed to get out of his battle with Falco.

He was cheering for his girlfriend, but one laser managed to hit her in the chest, a little to the left of her shoulder. Luckily it was well out of the way of her heart, but the wound was bleeding. It looked pretty bad, and Willow's boyfriend leapt over to her, trying to defend her from Leon.

Meanwhile, Ian had regained consciousness. The boy who had used to wear the gas mask everywhere ran over to Lucas and Leon, and he was helping the younger boy take care of the chameleon. After one quick shot with the blaster, Leon was down. He wasn't bleeding too much, but Willow's unconscious form was, so Lucas spent the better part of the rest of the battle defending her.

At the same time, Cole had taken care of Pigma and was now going at the rest of the aliens. He took down a droid, as well as a few more aliens, but Cole was hit in the leg and keeled over backwards. Getting up quickly, he latched onto Konstantin. Not _physically,_ but he was close enough to the Texan that they could easily defend each other.

"I'm going for the core now!" Falco shouted.

The other four conscious members of Star Enfield looked over at him. They were thinking that there was no possible way Falco was going to be able to do it, but he was about to prove them wrong. Throwing his blaster, Falco scored a direct hit on the core.

The disco ball-like core fell from the ceiling of the chamber, spinning the entire way. Before anyone could say anything, it hit the ground with an ear-shattering noise, spreading dust everywhere. It was absolutely ridiculous, and to make things even crazier, all of the lights in the base immediately turned off.

"I guess that's it" Lucas said. He was still clutching Willow's bleeding body. She was breathing, but barely.

"We did it!" Cole shouted, pumping his fist in the air.

Falco went over to Willow. "What's wrong with her? What happened, Lucas?"

Lucas gulped. "She...got shot. I think she's still breathing, but...she needs medical help, fast".

"Okay, Dr. Howler is going to be able to take care of her back on the Great Fox. We just need to take that black door, and we will have won. Just-".

There was a pounding on the black door. Before anyone could say anything, the Anglar Emperor, in his maroon cape with golden yellow trim, walked into the room, an angry expression on his ugly-colored face.

"You just shut down our base. You bastards! How can you live with yourselves?"

Many of the Star Enfield team were wondering the same thing about the Anglar Emperor. After all, he had basically let his entire army face the team alone, without even sacrificing everything. However, the Anglar Emperor was nearly as obese as Pigma, so it really would not have made too much difference.

"The next time I see you, I will scatter pieces of you throughout this galaxy! Leave now, but let it be known that it is not over yet!"

The Star Enfield team didn't pay him any more attention before piling out of the black door, heading up to the surface, and departing in the Great Fox.

* * *

In the medical ward of Andross's central ship, the Blue Brain, Pigma and Leon were being tended to. They had no idea what had happened to Wolf, but judging by Konstantin's attitude during the battle, it sure seemed that he might have been killed by the Texan.

"I mean, it would make sense" said Pigma as a medical droid bandaged one of the wounds Cole had given him. "I'm sure that Brockenbough guy has been pining for revenge ever since Wolf swung that trial against him back on Corneria".

"There's no question in my mind" Leon said, grunting in pain as his broken arm was set.

"We are going to get back at Lucas Enfield. We're going to make him rue the day that he _ever_ decided to go to that Christmas ball!"

That allowed them to have a good laugh, even though they were both in great pain from their wounds.

"There is some good news, though" said Andrew Oikonny, who had had no wounds at all. Instead, although he didn't tell the others yet, he had been the one to do the wounding.

"What is it?" Leon asked Andrew. The way they had just gotten beaten by Star Enfield, they were craving good news.

"I injected Lucas with a syringe of a drug that caused him to kill Jack Novsky. That's its major side effect".

Leon stared at Andrew. "What is the main effect of this substance?"

Andrew told them the main effect of the substance.

"That is **awesome**!" Pigma sneered.

"I know! It was genius, wasn't it? I mean..." Andrew continued rambling about the awesomeness of his plan, and Leon eventually fell asleep from boredom.

* * *

 **WILLOW'S POV**

I woke up on the Great Fox some time later. I was in a great deal of pain, but I could tell that I was probably getting pumped full of pain medication right now. I was in the med bay of the Great Fox, and there was something really itchy over my nose and mouth.

"Just breathe, Willow" said a voice I recognized.

I looked and saw that it was indeed Dr. Howler who had said that. She was standing over me, wearing her usual maternal smile. I looked around and saw that, in addition to the oxygen mask, I had an IV and a heart monitor attached.

"What happened?" I asked, although the mask muffled it a great deal.

"You got shot. Luckily, you didn't lose as much blood as Lucas did. He's with the rest of the crew right now, although things are a bit awkward...for obvious reasons.

"What are those reasons?" I asked, which I thought made it pretty clear that they were _not_ obvious reasons.

"You remember that Lucas killed Jack, right?"

"Yeah" I said. My heart monitor started beeping faster to correspond with my shock at what must have happened to my boyfriend. I still couldn't imagine that had been _him._

"Well, they won't look at him the same way as before, that's for sure. Of course, he was under the influence of an incredibly powerful drug that he did not willingly take, but it's still going to haunt him for a while".

I nodded, as much as I could.

"Where are we going now?" I asked.

"Home".

 _Home._ That word was not one that stirred up pleasant memories. My life at home hadn't been the best, what with two little siblings and a stepfather I wasn't a big fan of. Even so, I got the feeling that that wasn't what Dr. Howler was talking about.

"We're going back to Corneria. Thanks to Jack's upgrades, it'll take only about a week to get back there".

"What are we going back there _for_? We've already won, right?"

Dr. Howler smiled, wider than I usually saw her do so.

"Our hero's welcome".

* * *

 **RIP Wolf and Jack**

 **Wolf: He's a character from the original canon, and I of course included him here. I enjoyed his character arc, the story of Konstantin Vs. Wolf. First, he was one of the good guys, kind of a reformed villain. Then, he flipped over to the other side, starting with when he persuaded the jury to convict Konstantin. The Texan always had a grudge against him, and it all culminated when Konstantin got a chance to kill Wolf. It's worth noting that, in a PM from Zaravan (the creator of Konstantin), he told me to let Konstantin have this moment, and I obliged. Keep in mind that your OCs are welcome anytime!**

 **Jack: This was given to me by Cosmicsafe74, whom I have become great friends with. I decided to expand on him being 6'5" and from Poland to include him being in Cartagena and playing tejo with the locals. Honestly, he was an enjoyable character to write for. Apologies to Cosmicsafe74 for killing Jack off before the last book, but here is my defense. In order for the plot to progress in the way I wanted it to, a character had to die. Jack fell right into my firing line, so that was what happened. Trust me, though, Cosmicsafe's other OC, Ian, is going to play a big role in the third and final book of this trilogy. And Jack, as a weapons expert, did play an integral role in the story. I couldn't have written it nearly as well without him. (At the time of writing this, I haven't even published Chapter 8, where Jack was introduced, yet!)**

 **I wrote the last 5,000 words of this chapter in one day, while we were in Banff. Yes, I wrote this more than a month ago. Do you have a problem with that?**

 **I would like to thank everyone who has kept up with the story this far, particularly those who have reviewed. The next chapter is the last one, and, unlike what I usually do, it's not substantially longer than any other chapter before it.**

 **I hope you guys review, because it really does make my day.**


	16. Triumph And Tragedy

**This could have been the longest chapter I have EVER written. Emphasis on "could have".**

 **I accidentally deleted it. Since it wasn't in my Google Docs yet, I lost 8,400 words and it pissed me off. It looks like the final chapter of Labyrinth retains its title. Instead of an 11,000-word chapter, you get a 6,000-word chapter. It's not my best work, but it was the best I could do given the circumstances. I hope you can forgive me for this, I just couldn't bring myself to write the same thing over and over again.**

 **It's appropriate that I was in this mood when I was writing it, because this chapter is an emotional roller coaster. You'll just have to read it to see why I say so.**

 **Enjoy the final chapter of Attack Of The Anglars!**

* * *

 **LUCAS'S POV**

For a while, the trip back was triumphant. After Willow was finally taken off all of the machines a day later, she was walking around the Great Fox,and she was dancing with me a day after that. Really, she had gotten off far better than I had back on Fichina.

In spite of all of this, and the knowledge that we had just won the war, the mood on the ship, at least from me, was not as happy as it should have been. Reason being, I was still feeling guilty for what had happened on Venom with Jack.

I hadn't meant to kill the man. I really hadn't. I mean, I had, but not in a conscious way. It really was just like the Imperius Curse from the Harry Potter books. It would have been, if not absolutely impossible, very difficult to resist. And I did try.

I also played video games off and on with Cole, Ian, and Konstantin, but there was always a certain level of awkwardness between us. There was no changing the fact that I'd killed one of our friends and allies, without whom it is very possible we would not have won the war. Still, though, I could tell that they cared about me and were very concerned with where I had ended up.

I was an emotional wreck at times, but Willow was always there to comfort me.

All in all, however, it was a relief when we finally got back to Corneria.

* * *

When the ship finally arrived back on Corneria on March 20, we landed on a runway. It would have simple to just go into the government building, but the runway was crowded on both sides by people who were admiring us. As a result, the situation was akin to models on a catwalk. Falco had to help pave a way through for us, and it took a while to get into the government building that we were supposed to go to today.

I wasn't sure what was waiting for us there. I knew that we were likely to get some congratulations, given that we had just accomplished a major feat in defeating the Anglar forces, but I didn't know exactly what.

In front of us when we walked in were General Pepper and the hologram of James McCloud, looking as cyan as always.

"Good afternoon, Star Enfield. I would like to reward all of you for your efforts.

 _Reward? What might that reward be, I wonder?_

"Each of you will receive your own apartment and a salary of five million dollars a year. For saving the Lylat System, we are eternally grateful to you. The apartments are quite luxurious" General Pepper said. "I will now let James McCloud take over, because he also has some things to say".

"Yes" James said. "Let's start with you, Konstantin Nikolai Brockenbough. You are hereby fully pardoned for the crime you did not commit, betraying the Grey Clouds Flight Academy to the Anglar forces. Intelligence suggests that it was Wolf O'Donnell. We'll have to catch him...".

"There'll be no need for that" Konstantin said. "I killed him back on Venom. He was attacking me, but I got him real good".

"Oh" James said. "You won't be tried for that, he was a traitor anyway. We just started with you, Konstantin, because there was the most to sort out with you".

Konstantin certainly did look very happy to be pardoned. He no longer needed to worry about having the Cornerians breathing down his neck the whole time.

James read his notes. "Ian Keller, there is nothing in particular with you...except that you have been offered a position at one of the country's top science labs. I know that you're into science, and you may decline if you do not wish to take this position".

"Let me read into it" Ian said.

Immediately, a brochure appeared in a holographic form, listing the title of Ian's job and everything it entailed.

"I accept the position" he said, after reading it over for a minute.

"Very well, then" James replied. "Cole McCallen...you have been offered a seat on the Corneria City Board Of Governors. Will you accept it?"

"Can you do the same thing you did with Ian, and have the brochure appear up there?" Cole asked.

"Of course. Here you go" he said, clicking on the remote that summoned the brochure.

"I'll do it" Cole said. "I'm still only sixteen, so I'd probably be the youngest, but I'm willing to take it".

"I almost forgot...Konstantin, you're offered the position of military commander. There will be two months of training, and you will be sworn in after you turn twenty, which is the minimum age. Do you accept or decline the position?"

Knowing how much Konstantin was into military strategy, it came as a surprise to absolutely nobody that he accepted the offer.

"Willow Foster...you're allowed to be Secretary Of State. Does this appeal to you?"

"Yes, it does. Except...I'm not sure I'm qualified".

"You'll go through some training. You _will_ be fit for the job".

"I'll do it, then".

"All right!" James said. "That just leaves Lucas Enfield. Lucas...".

He paused ominously, and I wondered if he was telling me that I was going to be put on trial for killing Jack Novsky. That was definitely not something I was proud of, but I didn't know if it warranted that level of punishment. Not when I was in such emotional turmoil already.

"Lucas Enfield, you have been offered the position of Vice President of Corneria, under General Pepper. You may accept or decline, but the previous VP, Peppy Hare, is retiring, so we need an opening. We think that you would make a good fit".

I flinched. I couldn't believe it! I was being offered the second-highest position on the planet, literally. I could decline it, but who else would do it? And who could turn down such an offer?

"I'm taking it" I said.

"All right! That about wraps it up for you guys, at least for now. I would like to thank you once again for saving the Lylat System, and I would quickly like to swear in Lucas Enfield before each of you leave for your respective apartments".

He took me over to a laptop, and I gave the oath of office. Then, it was official.

I was the Vice President of Corneria. If something happened to General Pepper, I was going to be the President of Corneria. That was one of the greatest feelings I had ever had, the feeling of having boundless potential for the future.

* * *

After the ceremony was over, all of us having been assigned to our various positions, each of us were driven individually to our separate apartments.

Falco and Dr. Howler were going to live with me, as Dr. Howler had been assigned to be my personal physician. She seemed to be okay with that, and I was as well. I really did trust that woman, if you could call a Bengal tiger a _woman._

There was another reason as well.

"We're engaged" Falco said.

That had come out of the blue. Granted, there had been rumors that the two of them had been hooking up. However, I'd always figured them to be nothing more than that. Just rumors.

"So you _are_ together" I said, trying not to laugh.

"Yes. The wedding is set for June 16, four days after your birthday. I've sent out invitations to all of the members of Star Enfield, so barring any illnesses, we are likely to have the whole team be there".

"That's pretty awesome" I said.

"Yeah" Falco said.

Eventually, we arrived at my new apartment building. The apartment was on the sixth floor, and after a quick elevator ride to get there, I saw just how marvelous it was.

The apartment had an alcove that dug into the next floor as well. In this alcove, there was a fireplace, with walls painted orange, purple, and green. It looked pretty awesome to me, with the table being a great place to hold meetings.

According to Falco and Dr. Howler, all of my bags from the Great Fox were already here, so all I had to do was carry them up to my bedroom, two flights up on the left. As I looked around the room, I knew that this place could become home to me in a way that the Grey Clouds Flight Academy, or even my house in my former hometown of Swanville, Maine never had been.

The engaged couple would be sleeping in a room on the other side. As they were engaged, they had decided to start living together.

I went up to my room to unpack before dinner.

* * *

We ate dinner in the kitchen on the side of the apartment opposite my bedroom. Pizza had been ordered, although Dr. Howler advised me not to eat it too frequently, because I didn't want to end up with high cholesterol.

"Are you glad to be Vice President now, Lucas?" Falco asked me.

"It's quite an achievement" I said. "I never in a million years thought that I would ever get to this point. Thank you two for helping to make it possible".

"Yeah...we're always saving you, aren't we?" Falco said.

"Falco!" Dr. Howler said, but not in an angry way. More of a playful way.

"Never mind" he said.

Even with Falco's jab at how he and Dr. Howler had saved my life multiple times, I was enjoying dinner. The pizza was world-class, and what made it even better was the knowledge that we had won the war. The Lylat System was safe, at least for now.

But there was one thing that worried me.

My shoulder, around the area where Andrew had injected me, was beginning to become sore. In fact, there seemed to be a searing pain in my very _blood._ Not a pleasant feeling in the least. In addition, I had developed a track mark there, much like intravenous drug users often get. Surely I wouldn't get track marks after just _one_ injection?

Even so, it was not something I wanted to think about. Right now, I wanted to enjoy the moment. I was Vice President of Corneria. And, should something happen to General Pepper, I would become President. In the deepest recesses of my mind, the dark places that very few people access very often, I kind of wanted that to happen.

I decided not to focus on the pain and enjoy the rest of my dinner.

* * *

 **KONSTANTIN'S POV**

My apartment was not as posh as Lucas's was, but I was more than okay with it. Growing up with a lot of family members in a middle-class apartment in Houston, I could live with this. Besides, I was at such an emotional high that nothing was likely to bring me down.

I had been offered, and accepted, a position of Commander in the military. This was beyond my wildest dreams. I'd still need to do some physical training, but I wasn't actually likely to be directly in battle too often. I could be more focused on the strategic aspects of combat. Which, really, was something that I was looking forward to. As far as I could remember I had always been into military strategy.

The future wasn't going to be perfect. But, judging by where I had been nearly two months ago, I supposed it could be a lot worse.

And I'd gotten my revenge. I had finally made that bastard Wolf O'Donnell pay for what he had done. He'd paid the ultimate price, and now I no longer had to worry about him mucking up all of our plans. It was great not having that hanging over me anymore. I could be motivated by something more constructive now.

Yes, I'd been prepared to go to college with the expectation of becoming a combat strategist. Now, however, things were even better. I could almost pretend that everything was wonderful now, but the fact remained that I missed my family dearly. They hadn't sold me. So...who had?

I didn't need that answer right now.

As I was lying in bed that night, waiting for sleep to claim me, I was thinking more about the future. Lucas had Willow, and Falco and Dr. Howler were getting married in June (I'd already read the invitation, and was planning on going). I had never had a girlfriend of my own. I suppose that my weight had turned them off, but I'd been working on it.

Maybe with the military training coming up, I could get myself into shape. I wasn't going to be perfect, but I could, with work, get better. And, really, that was what I was focused on.

A perfect world was probably impossible. But a better world was _definitely_ possible.

And, as I went to sleep, my last thought was: _Maybe not all Xenos are that bad._

* * *

 **IAN'S POV**

The next morning, I was going to breakfast with Willow. She'd called me up last night, telling me that there was something she wanted to tell me face-to-face. Clearly, she must have already okayed this with Lucas, who evidently trusted her enough not to cheat on him with me.

Not that I was interested in Willow. At this point in my life, I wasn't that focused on gaining a romantic relationship at all. I was more focused on what was coming up for me soon, which was that I was going to be in a science position.

I'd always dreamed of being a scientist, which is ironic considering that I had very severe OCD even as a kid. It had gotten so bad that, at the GCFA, I'd worn a gas mask and gone by the alias of "Seventy-Four". Now, I'd unmasked myself, revealed my true identity, and grown in self-confidence as a result.

It really did seem like, if this universe really was a simulation, or some divine play that was being played out on a cosmic stage for God to watch, I was meant to be the shy character who gained confidence as a result of exposing himself to the outside world.

I didn't have all the answers yet. I didn't know why, or even _if,_ my parents had sold me to the school. I might never know. But that didn't mean that I was going to stop looking for answers.

That's not how science works.

 **(A/N: If you want a happy ending, this might be a good time to stop reading. Just saying)**

* * *

Willow met me in the lobby of my apartment building, and together we took the sky train to the restaurant she had in mind.

Yes, I said _sky train._ Corneria has a network of six lines- Fire Brick, Neon Carrot, Gold Tips, Shamrock, Turquoise Blue, and Blue Diamond, named according to their hex colors that were painted onto the cars. The trains run on invisible tracks high above the streets of Corneria, making it an efficient way to travel, since they don't have to compete with traffic below.

"This is pretty sweet, huh?" I said to her.

She nodded. At the time, I figured that she didn't want to have too intimate a conversation with me, given that she was dating Lucas.

We got off the train and walked the last few blocks to a restaurant called Star Fox House Of Pancakes. It had been created after the Star Fox team had defeated Andross in the First Lylat War, and there were rumors that Fox was occasionally a patron here.

That begged the question: Where was Fox now? Now that the war was over, and we had won, surely he had to find some other cause to champion? I didn't know, and I didn't really care right now. I had faith that Fox would show up when the time was right.

We took our seats and both got hot chocolate to drink. Willow ordered strawberry French toast, while I ordered chocolate chip pancakes. As the waitress left with our menus, Willow leaned in and told me something shocking.

"I'm breaking up with Lucas".

* * *

"Why?" I asked.

It had completely come out of the blue. One moment, she'd seemed perfectly normal, looking forward to eating some strawberry French toast and sipping hot chocolate like a boss, and the next she was telling me that she was breaking up with her boyfriend.

"I just don't see how things can ever be the same between us, Ian" she said. "With everything going on, Lucas being the new Vice President, I'll never be able to see things the same way again. I don't think it's right to give him false expectations of getting back together afterwards. It's true that we don't know what power will do to him, but I'm just not seeing this working".

"I understand" I said.

But the truth was, I _couldn't_ understand. I'd never had a girlfriend before, and I didn't know if I ever would. I was still socially awkward even in the best of circumstances. Hearing that my friend had an imminent breakup to deal with...that was something else.

"It's not just that, though. I know it wasn't his fault what happened to Jack...but I'll never be able to look at him the same way again. What if the drug is still in his system, and with every beat of his heart, the blood pumps into the part of him that will suddenly become abusive or whatnot? I can't see things with rose-tinted glasses anymore. At a certain point, you just have to accept reality".

I nodded. Everything she was saying made perfect sense. I wasn't surprised at all that she was wary of him after everything that had happened on Venom. The way he had killed Jack really was disconcerting. Had I been in the same position as her, I probably would have done the exact same thing.

"When will you tell him?" I asked her.

"I'll invite him to dinner tonight, and tell him over that. Really, I don't want to sugarcoat it. We can't be friends, either. I need that boy out of my life, for good".

Personally, I thought blindsiding Lucas Enfield would be pretty cold of her, but I saw no good argument against it. After all, it was her relationship, not mine. Nothing that went on with them was my responsibility.

* * *

 **LUCAS'S POV**

On the evening of March 21, Willow invited me to dinner at a local Italian restaurant. It sounded like it was going to be a very nice date between the two of us. She was my first love, and so far my last.

She met me at the door of my apartment. Since the restaurant was pretty close by, we didn't have to take a taxi there. Instead, we walked through the chilly evening air. Even so, there was the first hint of spring present, since it was the equinox. I also felt like this was the beginning of a new era, one where we weren't constantly looking over our shoulders for the next threat. I could really just relax and help govern for now.

Once we got to the restaurant, we were sat down. We also were given some bread, and it was a very romantic atmosphere with the candles that had been lit. In other words, it was a stereotypical Italian dinner.

"It's very nice, isn't it?" I said.

Willow didn't answer. She seemed very fixated on both her plate and the roll in her hand. I wondered if anything was wrong.

"Willow, is anything wrong?" I asked her, echoing my thoughts.

"No, Lucas...nothing's wrong. Nothing that you can help me with, anyway".

That rang a bell in my head. There was _something_ going on...something that I strongly suspected that I was not asking for, but she was going to do anyway.

"Lucas, I'm breaking up with you" she said.

"Why?" I asked.

"I can't trust you anymore. Not after the whole fiasco about Jack's death, not after you being promoted to Vice President...there's just no way".

I was blindsided. Completely, utterly blindsided.

I had thought that we were going to be together forever. Well, maybe not _forever,_ but I'd had hopes that it would last for longer than just three months. Even though we'd been in completely dangerous situations for a very large portion of that time, that didn't change the fact that much of it had been the best three months of my life. And why was that?

Because I'd had Willow Foster with me.

"I haven't changed. Not at all. I'm still Lucas Enfield, still the boy you fell in love with. I _promise_ you, I'm not going to kill you, or abuse you, or anything like that".

"Sure, that's what they all say" Willow said. "I don't trust you at all, so that's why I'm throwing in the towel".

"You do realize that this made the rest of our dinner pretty awkward, right? Like, I'm supposed to have a nice Italian feast with my ex-girlfriend? I'd sooner eat with Wolf O'Donnell".

Even now, I'm not sure if I completely meant all of the things I said. It might have been just in the heat of the moment that I stated that I'd rather have lunch with a lupine who had nearly killed me.

"Then go!" she said. "It's not like this is a romantic meal!"

"You know what? I will, and _you_ foot the bill. I'm not paying for a meal where you decided to hang me out to dry!"

With that, I slammed my napkin back on the table and stormed out of the restaurant, leaving Willow still eating a roll.

* * *

Over the next few days, Falco and Dr. Howler could tell that something was wrong. I didn't tell them that I had broken up with Willow, because I didn't think they needed to know that. Besides, I would have felt like a pretty big wimp if I had done something like that.

 _Really, that's something Willow would have done!_ I thought savagely. _So wimp, she's worried that I'm going to abuse her, or kill her! Well, I haven't changed one bit since I got injected with that drug._

And then I realized: That was exactly the problem.

I hadn't changed at all. She probably figured that it was my fault for having taken the drug, even though I was unconscious when it was administered. Forget the fact that I admired Jack as much as anyone else on the Star Enfield team. Forget the fact that it would've been pretty hard to hide the fact that I was a double agent, had I been a double agent.

 _Well, that's her problem,_ I thought even savagely.

* * *

It wasn't the last bad thing to happen, however.

By March 27, a Friday afternoon, my track mark had become more and more inflamed and pronounced. The searing pain came more and more frequently each day, and the pain was more intense each time.

At first, I blamed this on my breakup with Willow, saying that the physical pain was just my body's way of dealing with the emotional pain. That happened sometimes, right? It wasn't that crazy of a hypothesis.

However, Dr. Howler, who still didn't know of my breakup and was probably getting suspicious that I didn't ask to go see Willow in her apartment anymore, insisted on taking me to a doctor to get it checked out.

I was instantly recognized as the vice president as soon as I entered the hospital waiting room. I wasn't sure if that gave me priority over the other patients, but I really hoped now. Just because I was in power now didn't mean that I didn't care what happened to the people out of power.

Eventually, we were called in by none other than Dr. Tuskland, the same doctor who had operated on me on Fichina.

"Hello, Mr. Enfield. It's been a while since I last saw you. Fully recovered from your laser wounds, I presume?"

"Yes, it's actually something else today" I said.

"Sure. Blood test on that track mark? That's what Tigre here called in to tell me, that you got something from the injection that Andrew gave you. We're going to do a blood test, and then I'll tell you the results. So just take a seat right there" she said, pointing to a nearby chair.

After I sat down, Dr. Tuskland inserted the tube in to take the blood. I wasn't worried about the pain, especially since I knew that it was getting me one step closer to finding out the truth about this track mark.

As she was taking my blood, the elephant made small talk with me, or at least tried to, because I wasn't feeling too talkative at the moment.

"Yes...so we all had to leave Fichina, because General Pepper said that it wasn't safe anymore. I'm glad you're okay, and I'm glad that the war is won. Oh, look at that...it looks like we have enough blood to do the test. You may go now".

Dr. Howler said that we had to wait in the waiting room until the results came back. It did take about an hour, but it did eventually happen.

"Lucas? Tigre? I think you should come in" Dr. Tuskland said. "The news is not good".

* * *

In general, I'm not a fan of bad news.

"The syringe Andrew used on you, Lucas, contained a very rare substance that is known to have effects similar to the Imperius Curse. That's only the secondary effect of it, though".

I remembered how Andrew, back on Venom, had told me that the control was only a side effect of the substance. At the time, I couldn't have cared less what the main function was due to being so over the moon in terms of euphoria.

Now, I desperately wanted to know.

"The main effect is that it will slowly poison your blood. Your heart will keep pumping it, and eventually it will kill you if we don't treat it".

I gulped and started sweating. I'd faced danger before. Being told that I had a potentially terminal illness was different, knowing that this was an enemy I could not see, couldn't do anything tangible to avoid that I knew of.

"How much time do I have?" I asked weakly.

Dr. Tuskland looked at me with an expression that said, _I am so, so sorry._

"Maybe three or four months. I'm going to prescribe a couple of medications that are going to help. Side effects include nausea, fatigue, dizziness, and depression, so if you want to just give up...".

"What chances does it give Lucas, Dr. Tuskland?" Dr. Howler asked.

"Fifty-fifty" the elephant said.

"Then that's it" I said. "I'm not going to pull any punches against this thing. I'm Lucas Enfield. I've overcome greater odds. Let's bring on this fight".

Even with my bravado, I didn't completely succeed in hiding just how distraught I was feeling as we headed back to my apartment.

First a breakup. Then a devastating diagnosis.

* * *

 **KONSTANTIN'S POV**

I had heard from Ian that Willow had broken up with Lucas. I decided, after talking with him over the phone, that I was going to go and visit him. We could play video games together, just like old times. I could cheer him up. At least, I would do my best to do so.

I took a taxi to get to Lucas's apartment and went up the elevator to the sixth floor.

Lucas was standing at the door when I arrived. He looked paler than usual, and he clearly wasn't in a good mood. I wondered if he'd even been eating or drinking, he looked pretty tired.

"Hey, Konstantin" he said. "Why are you here, if you don't mind me asking?"

"To cheer you up" I said. "Is that a crime?"

"I never said that. So...you want to play video games or something?"

"Yeah, that'd be great" I said.

We went over to the living room, where we booted up the Wii and put in _Super Smash Bros. Brawl._ Lucas told me that Dr. Howler wouldn't let him have the Wii in his bedroom.

"And that's kind of okay" he said. "I trust her judgment".

"Good" I said.

I remembered a previous time that Dr. Howler had given me orders, and laughed.

"What's so funny?" Lucas asked me, as he selected the red costume of Fox McCloud, someone we knew and admired in real life very much.

"Remember that day I was finally back on the Great Fox? When you'd just rescued me?"

"Like it was just yesterday. What about it?"

"Before we went to see you guys, Dr. Howler told me not to pull a Katniss Everdeen".

"What do you mean by that?" he asked me.

"She meant not to pull out the IV. I know it's a random thing, but it really makes me crack up".

"I think it's pretty funny as well" said Lucas.

We chuckled at that quite a bit as I selected King Dedede. In times of sorrow like this one, maybe it helped to laugh about the small things. Such as those little moments like the one I had just described.

We started up a match on Port Town Aero Dive, and we were having a pretty good time. Right now, however, all that mattered to me was that I was cheering Lucas up. And, when it came down to it, that wasn't nothing.

* * *

 **LUCAS'S POV**

Even though Konstantin visiting me had helped keep some of my grief at bay, it wasn't the end of everything. It wasn't a good state of mind that I was in, not by a long shot.

I hadn't eaten or drank anything in two days, not since my diagnosis. I'd felt too nauseous to for the most part. It wasn't that I actively wanted to avoid food, it just made me feel sick. No doubt this had to do mainly with my breakup, the medication I was taking three times a day, and the fact that I might be dead a few months from now.

On the morning of Sunday, March 29, 201Y, I was sitting on the couch, weakly playing some _Brawl._ I was supposed to go over to breakfast with the others, but today, much like other days, I simply didn't have the appetite.

"Lucas, I am literally going to have to hook you up to an IV if you don't come and eat with us at some point" Dr. Howler said.

I knew that she had plenty of medical equipment on her, and she _would_ deliver on that threat. Really, I had to go and eat with them. There was no way around it unless I wanted a drip in my arm.

And I didn't.

"I'm coming" I said.

I walked on over to the table, where Falco and Dr. Howler were sitting. I knew that they were definitely pleased to see me at the table, but I wasn't too hungry. As I looked at the toast and fruit that had been set out, I thought, _Can I really eat this? Do I_ have _to?_

The next thing that happened drove the thought of food from just about everyone's mind. Reason being, the phone rang.

Falco went over to it. "I'm picking it up".

"Mmm-hmmm...uh, yeah, that's not good...he's back...I thought he was gone... _are you kidding me?_ Just when we thought it was all over...and there are still other effects of this on Lucas, too...yeah, take care, Fox".

Eventually, Falco hung up and went back down to the table.

"What was it?" Dr. Howler asked.

Falco put on the most serious expression I had ever seen him wear. He sounded about a thousand years old when he said his next words.

"Fox just called. He's heard news coming in from Venom. And it's not good.

"Andross is back".

* * *

 **I'm ending the whole story on a cliffhanger. That's right. You can call me a jerk, but I wrote this weeks ago, so...yeah, there's that.**

 **Would you believe me if I wrote all 6,000+ words on the same day in Calgary/Lake Louise? Because I did.**

 **In any case, I would like to thank each of the people who submitted characters to these stories. Individually, as my usual style is.**

 **Zaravan: For giving me Konstantin. He has written a one-shot called "Spite", which is about Konstantin while he is in the prison cell on Corneria. It was actually where I learned the word "Xenos" from. This was a real treat for me when I discovered it, so if you enjoyed this story, I hope that you will head on over there and leave a review. We have become pretty good friends as well, so there is that. In addition, I may have said this before, but Zaravan personally told me to have Konstantin rip Wolf's eyes out...so I obliged. Sometimes I do take ideas from fans.**

 **Cosmicsafe74: For giving me Ian and Jack. I'm sorry that I had to kill Jack, but it was necessary in order to work with the plot that I had in mind. Without that, the ending of the story, as well as much of the third one, could not have progressed in the way that it did. We have become very good friends, and he continues to give me new ideas. So thank you so much, Cosmicsafe74.**

 **Peytonhungergameshaymitch: For giving me Willow. The romance, and its deterioration, was a major plot point in this story. I think that, without it, this story could not have gone the way it did, and I have Peyton to thank for it. She has not been reading the story, it seems, but I hope that if and when she does come back, she will enjoy the way I have portrayed her character.**

 **Singlewave: It's the same with him as with Peyton. He hasn't really kept up, but he is pretty busy with his own story. Still, though, I hope that he enjoys the way I wrote Cole in this story.**

 **The third and final book of the trilogy will be titled Rise Of The Enemy, and it will be epic, I promise. I hope that you enjoy reading it, and would you believe that I'm already much of the way through writing it?**

 **One last thing, which I'd like you to tell me in your review: Do you ship Falco x Dr. Howler? Well, they're getting married in the next one.**

 **With that, SnowLucario is outta here!**


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